Mackenzie Shirilla is reportedly finding it difficult to hold on to hope as she serves time in prison.
Her mother, Natalie Shirilla, opened up about the 21-year-old’s emotional state while discussing Mackenzie’s 15-years-to-life sentence connected to the 2022 crash that killed her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and their friend Davion Flanagan.
“It’s almost like she’s trapped in a nightmare that she has no memory of,” Natalie said during the June 24 episode of Chris Cuomo’s Crime Time podcast. “She’s never seen the evidence. She’s never seen the discovery. She’s never seen anything.”
Mackenzie, whose case is examined in Netflix’s The Crash, was convicted of four counts of murder, four counts of felonious assault and two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide.
According to Natalie, her daughter continues to grapple with the loss and the absence of any memory from the crash. “All she knows is that the boyfriend that she loved with her whole heart is gone and Davion is gone,” she said. “And she was the driver in a car accident. And has no memory of it.”
Natalie said she has seen signs of Mackenzie’s distress through the artwork her daughter creates while behind bars.
“[Mackenzie] does self-portraits of herself where she has…a rose of thorns around her neck or her mouth is sewn shut,” Natalie explained. “She’s got all these question marks around her head like, ‘Why, why, why?’”
The podcast episode was released on June 24, just one day after reports emerged that the Ohio Supreme Court had denied Mackenzie’s latest appeal.
Meanwhile, Mackenzie’s father Steve Shirilla has been on the defense for both his daughter and his livelihood.
Days after The Crash premiered in May, Steve’s employers at Mary Queen of Peace School put him on administrative leave amid controversy surrounding parenting comments made in the documentary. He ultimately parted ways with the school.
“I might not ever teach again,” Steve explained in a separate appearance on Crime Time’s June 5 episode. “I’m a good teacher. I’m a passionate teacher.”
