Mackenzie Shirillafather of Steve Shirillahe protected his daughter, saying that she was his late friend Davion Flanagan she would not be included in the plot to kill her boyfriend.
Steve, who has been vocal in his support for Mackenzie, 21, as she serves two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life in prison for the death of her boyfriend in July 2022. Dominic Russo and Flanagan, explained his teaching during the Wednesday, May 27 episode True Crime This Week.
“I asked him, ‘Did you do this on purpose?’ And he says, ‘No,'” Steve said on the podcast, hosted by James Renner. “I could imagine if my daughter was angry like that, angry with that boy [Russo] wanted to kill him that way, Davion wouldn’t be in the car. This does not make sense.”
Steve continued, “Something happened in that car, no one will know. He is innocent of the charges against him.”
Mackenzie was convicted of 12 counts during a 2023 bench trial, including murder, at the age of 17, after driving his Toyota Camry at a speed of more than 100 mph in Strongsville, Ohio, and intentionally crashing into a brick wall with Russo and Flanagan in the car.
He is the sole survivor of the crash, which is the subject of a Netflix documentary titled The crash. Mackenzie remains innocent despite being convicted as he says he does not remember the incident.
Steve is also in the middle The crashwhich premiered on the streaming service on May 15, shows support for her daughter even as Mackenzie’s marijuana use comes under scrutiny. (Marijuana was found in Mackenzie’s system during the incident.)
Mackenzie Shirilla opened up about her worries about the future during a phone call from prison, revealing that she is afraid she will not “have children” because she will be “old” when she is released. In an unrecorded jailhouse phone call between her and her mother, Natalie Shirilla, Mackenzie, 21, shared the harsh truths. […]
“I don’t have a problem with his smoking,” said Steve in the film. “If you’re going to smoke a drug, this is the one I believe you should take.” The comments prompted him to take a leave of absence from his job teaching art and digital media at Cleveland’s Mary Queen of Peace School.
A few days ago, Mackenzie talked about post-incarceration plans if he were to be released early. “I’m a health coach and stuff,” he reportedly told his mother. Natalie Shirillaby phone from the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville, Ohio, according to a report on Saturday, May 30, TMZ. “I will be everything. I do everything.” (Mackenzie is not eligible for parole until October 2037.)
A former inmate who served time with Mackenzie Shirilla at the Ohio Reformatory for Women said she showed no “remorse” in prison and wanted to “look like” Mean Girls character Regina George. Mary Katherine “Kat” Crowder shared claims about what Shirilla, 21, was really like in prison after the release of Netflix’s The. […]
Among Mackenzie’s hopes, prison records recently discovered by Us Weekly show has faced numerous disciplinary actions while in prison, including an NSFW video call in 2025 in which she allegedly showed a visitor her breasts flashing a “twice-out-of-pants dildo.”
Details of other alleged incidents include the discovery of 2024’s altered clothing and four “nude magazine photos”.
