Mackenzie Shirilla has been making headlines about her hopes for the future out of prison, leaving many people to wonder if she is still behind bars.
The convicted murderer is currently serving two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville, Ohio, after being convicted in a 2023 bench trial of 12 felony charges connected to the deadly July 2022 car crash that killed her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and their high school friend Davion Flanagan.
Shirilla’s case has roared back into the national spotlight following the May 15, 2026, release of Netflix’s documentary The Crash, which examines the moments leading up to and following the fatal collision. Newly surfaced jail call recordings, prison disciplinary records and claims from a former inmate are now offering a complicated portrait of the woman the sentencing judge once called “literal hell on wheels.”
Here’s everything Us Weekly knows about her current prison status, her sentence, her recent disciplinary issues and her own statements about life behind bars.
Mackenzie Shirilla’s Prison Sentence and Parole Eligibility
Shirilla was 17 years old on July 31, 2022, when she drove her Toyota Camry into a brick building in Strongsville, Ohio, at over 100 mph. Investigators determined there was no evidence she ever applied the brakes. Russo, 20, who sat passenger and Flanagan, 19, in the back seat, were not wearing seatbelts and were pronounced dead at the scene. Shirilla survived with critical injuries and was airlifted to a hospital. She later tested positive for marijuana, though her blood was negative for alcohol and mushrooms — the latter of which were found inside the car.
Tried as an adult despite being a minor at the time of the crash, Shirilla was convicted in August 2023 of murder, felonious assault, aggravated vehicular homicide and additional charges. She received two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life. She is not eligible for parole until October 2037, meaning she will be in her early 30s before she can even apply for release. She continues to maintain her innocence and has repeatedly claimed she has no memory of the crash.
Mackenzie Shirilla Reveals Post-Prison Plans During Call With Mom
Despite the lengthy sentence ahead of her, Shirilla appears to be thinking about life on the outside. In audio of a phone call between Shirilla and her mother, Natalie Shirilla, obtained by TMZ, the inmate shared what she hopes to do if she is ever released.
“I’ma be a life coach and stuff,” Shirilla reportedly told her mother. “I’m just going to be everything. I’ma do everything.”
The plans came up after Natalie praised her daughter for being a “pillar of strength” through the crash, trial and incarceration.
“All the things you have been experiencing. It’s so much. So many highs and lows, up and downs. A pillar of strength, my love,” Natalie said, per the same audio recording.
“Yes, like, man. Like, I just wanna come home and just like … I don’t even know,” Mackenzie replied.
“You’re going to be able to help so many more people than you already were, you know what I mean?” her mother responded. “Just because of your experiences.”
Mackenzie Shirilla’s Fear of Aging Out of Motherhood
In a separate undated jail call between Shirilla and her mother obtained by People, Shirilla opened up about another deeply personal fear: that she will be too old to have children by the time she is released.
“I feel like I want to live off the grid, like, and I’m just — I’m just I’m thinking about like how I’m just gonna be like old when I get out of jail and like, I don’t know, like I’m not gonna be able to have kids or like a family and s*** like that,” she said.
Natalie urged her daughter not to “go there,” to which Mackenzie replied, “I know, it’s hard not to.”
“So just wait, OK?” her mother said.
Earlier in the call, Mackenzie admitted she “doesn’t want to live here with these people,” referencing her fellow inmates — whom Natalie referred to as “murderers [and] kidnappers.”
Mackenzie Shirilla’s Prison Disciplinary Record
While Shirilla has framed herself as remorseful in The Crash, prison records recently obtained by Us paint a more complicated picture. Documents show that Shirilla has faced multiple disciplinary actions during her time at the Ohio Reformatory for Women.
In 2025, she was written up for a NSFW video call during which the convicted felon allegedly showed her breasts to a visitor who flashed “a dildo sticking out of her pants twice.” In October 2024, she was disciplined for possession of altered clothing and four “nude magazine pictures.” Prison officials restricted her commissary access for 30 days as punishment for those offenses, per the docs.
Former Inmate Mary Katherine Crowder Claims Shirilla Is a Prison ‘Mean Girl’
Adding another layer to the story, former inmate Mary Katherine “Kat” Crowder publicly claimed that Shirilla’s behavior behind bars looks nothing like the contrite figure depicted in Netflix’s documentary. Crowder, who served time alongside Shirilla at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, told The New York Post that she was shocked by what she saw on screen.
“When she walked out in the documentary, my jaw literally dropped, because her demeanor and the way that she looked was nothing like the person I was in there with,” Crowder said.
According to Crowder, Shirilla crowned herself the head of the “Mean Girls” while behind bars, sporting full glam makeup and “preppy” outfits allegedly funded by her parents and sugar daddies she met online.
“When I was in there with her, you’d look at her and she had her makeup done every day, she was very well put together — almost like preppy,” said Crowder, whose sentence overlapped with Shirilla’s for six months. “But in the documentary, she did not look like that at all — she almost looked like she was conforming to the people that have been there for a while.”
What’s Next for Mackenzie Shirilla
For now, Shirilla remains housed at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville, with parole eligibility more than a decade away. With the renewed attention from Netflix’s documentary, the newly surfaced jail calls and the swirling claims from a former inmate, the case shows no signs of fading from public view anytime soon.
This story was compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists.
