Last week, the Ohio Supreme Court declined to take up an appeal filed by Mackenzie Shirilla. So Mackenzie shall remain at the Ohio Reformatory for Women serving two concurrent 15 years to life sentences for killing her boyfriend Dominic Russo and friend Davion Flanagan in a car crash in 2022. Well, turns out the day after the appeal ruling came down, Mackenzie’s mother Natalie Shirilla appeared on Chris Cuomo’s Cuomo Crime Time podcast to whine about the poor mental state of her convicted daughter. Just like how both parents came off in the Netflix documentary The Crash (tone deaf), Natalie’s Cuomo interview was yet another example of the delusion and culpability shared between the generations of this family. Some highlights from E! News:
Mackenzie Shirilla’s mom is sharing insight into her daughter’s life behind bars.
After the Supreme Court of Ohio declined to hear the 21-year-old’s appeal on her murder conviction, her mom Natalie Shirilla detailed how she is doing as she serves out two concurrent 15 years to life sentences in prison for her role in the deadly 2022 car crash that killed her boyfriend Dominic Russo and friend Davion Flanagan.
“It’s almost like she’s trapped in a nightmare that she has no memory of,” Natalie told Chris Cuomo on the June 24 episode of the Cuomo Crime Time prodcast. “She’s never seen the evidence. She’s never seen the discovery. She’s never seen anything.”
She went on to explain that Mackenzie—who in 2023 was found guilty of intentionally killing Russo, 20, and Flanagan, 19, when the Toyota Camry she was driving smashed into a brick wall at over 100 mph—is “struggling” in prison.
Especially as she allegedly deals with the fallout of an incdent she says she has no recollection of.
“All she knows is that the boyfriend that she loved with her whole, whole heart is gone and Davion is gone,” Natalie said, “and she was the driver in a car accident, and has no memory of it.”
The 52-year-old then became emotional as she shared intricate details about Mackenzie’s artwork, which she creates to help pass the time behind bars.
“It’s so sad, and one of these days I’ll share it,” she tearfully shared. “I’m not going to share it now for obvious reasons, but it’s really sad.”
“She does self-portraits of herself where she has a rose of thorns around her neck or her mouth is sewn shut,” Natalie continued, “and she’s got all these question marks around her head like, ‘Why, why, why?’ And like, ‘Where’s Dom?’ Like, ‘What happened and [to] Davion?’”
Reiterating that Mackenzie is “literally trapped in this nightmare,” she added that her daughter “struggles mentally.”
Yeah, the whole “she has no memory of it” angle is not the exonorating argument Natalie thinks it is. There is no debate over the fact that Mackenzie was driving the car, she’s even on tape being recovered from the driver’s seat of the car. Mackenzie was behind the wheel, and the car evidence showed that not once did she apply the brake, nor did any component of the car malfunction. To use the language that Mackenzie feels “trapped” is another thoughtless, callous remark from Natalie. Dominic and Davion were the ones trapped, in a car that Mackenzie turned into a weapon. Mackenzie isn’t trapped, she put herself where she is now. What truly did me in, though, was Natalie waxing on Mackenzie’s prison artwork. “I’m not going to share it now for obvious reasons,” …those reasons being that they’re god awfully bad? No really: question marks over her head, mouth sewn shut, “a rose of thorns” around her neck? Let’s get a grip here, Mackenzie Shirilla is not Frida Kahlo.
Photos courtesy of Netflix and via Instagram