Mackenzie Shirilla’s Mother Raises New Claims About Her Daughter’s Boyfriend

Mackenzie Shirilla’s mother is speaking publicly for the first time about her daughter’s sudden notoriety, saying the 21-year-old should not be defined by the harsh image that has taken hold online.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Natalie Shirilla addressed the intense attention surrounding her daughter since Netflix released The Crash, a documentary that has reignited debate over the 2022 high-speed collision that killed Shirilla’s boyfriend and a friend.

Natalie Shirilla, 51, said social media has been flooded with misinformation in the wake of the film. Her comments come after a judge famously referred to Mackenzie Shirilla as “Hell on Wheels” in connection with the crash that led to the deaths of the two teenagers.

“There were three people in the car,” Natalie said in her first interview since the documentary premiered. “Anything could have happened. Anything. So all these people creating all these stories, it’s just a bunch of story time. Nobody knows.”

She also acknowledged the public anger directed at her family, while rejecting the idea that either she or her daughter fits the role many critics have assigned them.

“I’m always going to be a villain in somebody’s story because I’m the mom of someone driving a car who killed two kids,” she said. “That’s okay because I know I’m not a villain, I’m a good person. So is my daughter. She’s not how she’s been labeled online. She struggles with this daily.”

Shirilla has been locked up ever since she was arrested for murdering her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, 20, and classmate, Davion Flanagan, 19, in the Cleveland suburb of Strongsville on July 31, 2022.

Just two days before her 18th birthday, Shirilla rammed her black Toyota Camry through a sign and into the side of a commercial building at 100 mph. 

Shirilla, who suffered severe injuries, was the only survivor. 

A judge found her guilty in 2023 on a spate of charges, including murder, after prosecutors argued she deliberately caused the wreck.   

Now serving 15 years to life in prison, Shirilla’s family – who initially believed the young woman would only be charged with vehicular homicide – said they visit as much as they are allowed. 

Shirilla, who texts her mother daily from her prison-issued tablet, is being held at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville, a two-hour drive away from the family home. 

‘She’s struggling, they all are. It’s very hard and challenging in there,’ Natalie said, adding she can only see her daughter twice a month. 

‘She’s actually gained a little bit of weight, she looks healthier. She looks physically better but she’s still mentally struggling.’ 

Asked if she is worried her daughter will be bullied behind bars, Natalie said she knows how to stand up for herself. 

‘I think some people get targeted at times but it’s not something she talks about,’ she said. ‘She’s not afraid to stand up for herself. We talk about how to navigate through those situations.

‘But from what I can see, the women really take care of each other in there.’ 

Despite having already been slapped with roughly 36 misconduct ‘tickets’ for violating prison rules, Natalie staunchly defended her criminal daughter. 

‘A lot of the tickets she got were for stuff she wouldn’t even know were rules, like wearing her uniform,’ her mother claimed. 

Some of the tickets, though, were for numerous sexually explicit video calls with an ex-inmate. 

‘I mean, she’s in her 20s so….’ Natalie said when asked about the alleged lesbian activity behind bars. 

‘I don’t know about that one. All I can say is Mackenzie is not violent or aggressive.’

Since being locked up, snippets of Shirilla’s prison calls with her mom have been made public, including some where she has complained about being bored. 

But Shirilla, who has since landed a job as a food service worker, has learned how to pass the time, according to her mom. 

‘She paints, she draws, she’s very talented. She listens to music or watches movies,’ she said. ‘They have tablets that have controlled apps. They can’t access the Internet but they can watch movies or listen to music. They also have a gym and can take fitness classes.’ 

Meanwhile, Natalie whined that the entire ordeal involving her daughter had left their family feeling stuck in a nightmarish limbo. 

‘I feel trapped,’ she said in the series of recent interviews from the family’s home. 

‘I feel like we’re stuck in quicksand and we can’t get out. I feel so bad for Mackenzie but at the same time I feel so bad for the other families.’

Even so, the mother continued to try and clear up more falsehoods she said have been spreading online – including that Russo had been trying to break up with her daughter, as well as reports Shirilla had previously tried to crash a car while driving with her boyfriend. 

‘I loved Dom. I still love Dom. Mackenzie still loves Dom. She’s struggling. Dom was like part of our family,’ she insisted. 

In fact, Natalie claimed Russo was ‘bipolar’ and had previously threatened suicide – once when he was in the Shirillas’ bathroom.

Natalie admitted the pair had a volatile relationship and fought often but said Shirilla often had to run to Russo’s aid when he started spiraling. 

She added that Russo’s mother had called Shirilla for help on several occasions when he started to ‘hit his head against the wall.’

Some of Natalie’s claims appear to be backed up in the enormous – but often confusing – trove of more than 30,000 text messages, reports, recordings, and investigative materials made public after the trial.

Natalie, who has largely stayed out of the public eye since her daughter’s conviction, opted to speak out just as Shirilla’s case moves through the federal court system – and as a growing online movement pushes for a review of the evidence. 

NewsNation TV anchor Chris Cuomo, who is also an attorney, was among those to recently questioned how the case was handled.

Natalie said her family had stumbled into a legal process they did not understand, were repeatedly failed by the people paid to guide them through it and have watched a story harden around her daughter that she believes bears little resemblance to what actually happened on the night of the wreck. 

‘No lawyer I talked to can believe what has happened,’ Natalie said. ‘None.’

Shirilla’s then-attorney, James McDonnell, only visited her in custody two or three times, according to her mother – and she was apparently never privy to the evidence the prosecution intended to use against her.

Multiple online reports noted Shirilla had waived her right to a jury trial in favor of being tried by a judge.

But her mom said that was also untrue.

‘Mackenzie wanted a jury,’ her mother said. ‘She told (her lawyer) that and she was under the impression that it was her choice to make. But the morning the trial was set to begin, McDonnell announced the case would be decided by a judge,’ she said. 

When Shirilla objected, her mom said McDonnell became forceful.

‘He kind of stood up, and he was kind of the bigger guy, and kind of yelled at her about it,’ Natalie said.

‘And then she was like, well, okay – she was a traumatized 18-year-old. So she was like, “Okay, if that’s what you think is best.” Because you’re supposed to trust your lawyer.’

Judge Nancy Margaret Russo ultimately found her guilty of aggravated murder and dubbed her ‘hell on wheels.’ Soon after the verdict came in, it turned out that McDonnell had not entered a substantial body of potentially exculpatory evidence into the record. 

Natalie insisted no one can understand why.

The Daily Mail reached out to McDonnell for comment but he didn’t return calls.  

Shirilla, for her part, quickly appealed but lost because the family’s second attorney filed her post-conviction petition one day late under Ohio’s 365-day deadline.

Now, her current attorneys have asked the Supreme Court of Ohio to review the case.

They have argued that prior counsel failed to adequately investigate evidence, including the possibility that a medical condition – often described as a POTS-related blackout – may have caused her to lose consciousness before the crash.

Natalie said her daughter would like to speak from jail herself and clear the air but can’t because of the possibility of an upcoming appeal.

‘Everything that she has said about (Russo), even in the nicest, most innocent way, has been used against her in a way that makes her look evil or a monster,’ she said. 

‘So, if I was her, I would never talk again ever, because whatever you say is going to be used against you.’

Elsewhere in the interview, Natalie also noted that the Shirillas had initially grieved alongside the Russo family before they suddenly turned on them.

Russo’s mother, Christine Agnello Russo – who used to work for the Cuyahoga County District Attorney whose office prosecuted the case – was seen on video with police discussing how Shirilla needed to go to prison and pushing for a Republican judge to hear the case.

Natalie blamed the family’s spokeswoman, Christine Russo, who is the 38-year-old half-sister of Dominic Russo, for the shift. 

‘Christine Junior doesn’t even know us,’ Natalie said. ‘She’s the daughter of Frank Russo and his first wife. She only knew Dominic until he was about 15. Mackenzie met her like one time. Yet she professes to know all about us.’

The younger Christine Russo declined to comment to the Daily Mail.