Interest in Mackenzie Shirilla’s case has surged online following Netflix’s documentary The Crash, and fresh attention is now being paid to the ‘code language’ she allegedly used with her mother.
The Crash revisits the 2022 incident involving Shirilla, who is serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 15 years, after a high-speed collision killed her boyfriend Dominic Russo and their friend Davion Flanagan.
Shirilla, who was 17 at the time, was behind the wheel when the vehicle struck a wall at roughly 100mph. She continues to insist she did not cause the crash intentionally, and the documentary also includes her parents expressing skepticism about the guilty verdict.
In the wake of the documentary’s release, viewers learned that several notable details were not included in the final cut. Among them was an audio recording from Shirilla’s first interview with a detective, conducted while she was hospitalized recovering from the collision.
During that hospital interaction, police reportedly noticed Shirilla and her mother communicating in a manner investigators later interpreted as a deliberate attempt to conceal meaning. Authorities said they were able to crack the pattern, which allegedly involved inserting “ezza” between syllables. The alleged coded exchanges were later presented in court during Shirilla’s 2023 trial, including a moment where she was allegedly heard asking her mom: “Can we tell the police I had a seizure?” The detail was discussed in an episode of A&E’s true-crime series Killer Cases.
More recently, prison phone calls obtained by PEOPLE allegedly capture Shirilla shifting into the same coded speech while speaking with her mother, Natalie, who responds: “Oh God.”
“Oh my God is right,” Shrilla replies before continuing with more of the purported ‘gibberish’ language.
“Which one?” her mother asks, before Shirilla again responds in the same manner. Natalie then adds: “Don’t forget you said — can I say a gibberish term just to make sure? — don’t forget that that might not be what really happened. She’s being accused of that.”
In another call cited by the outlet, Shirilla allegedly switched back into the coded talk after realizing other people in her unit could overhear her conversation.
Prosecutors ultimately pursued a wide range of charges connected to the Strongsville crash. Shirilla was convicted of multiple felonies, including aggravated vehicular homicide, murder, and felonious assault related to Russo and Flanagan.
She is incarcerated at the Ohio Reformatory for Women and, under her sentence, is expected to be eligible for parole in 2037.
At the time, Shirilla’s attorney argued that she had ‘blacked out’ while driving due to Postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS). Prosecutors disputed that defense, pointing to evidence they said indicated her foot remained on the accelerator, which they argued would be inconsistent with being unconscious.
July 17 2022 – Mackenzie Shirilla and her boyfriend Dominic Russo get into an argument. A friend overhears Shirilla tell him: “I will crash this car right now.”
July 31 2022 – Shirilla is driving Russo, 20, and their friend Davion Flanagan, 19, from Russo’s home to a friend’s house. At around 5.30am, she crashes the car into a Plidco Building in Strongsville, Ohio, travelling at 100mph without braking. Police arrive on the scene 45 minutes later. Russo and Flanagan are pronounced dead and Shirilla is transported to MetroHealth Medical Center.
August 2022 – 200 people attend a vigil for Russo and Flanagan. Shirilla remains in critical condition. When a detective visits her in hospital, she is said to be speaking a ‘unique language’ similar to pig Latin.
October 2022 – Shirilla attends a Halloween party wearing fancy dress which resembles a corpse, which Davion’s father considers in very poor taste. He says in Netflix’s The Crash: “Dressing up as corpses three months after she killed two people, it just sickened us to the very core.”
November 4 2022 – Shirilla is arrested and faces 18 charges, including two counts of aggravated murder. She also faces charges for allegedly breaking into the Columbia Church of God in Columbia Station days before the crash, along with drug trafficking and possession charges.
August 7 2023 – Shirilla’s trial begins. Her defence team argue she may have passed out at the time of the crash due to postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), but no medical records or expert testimony confirms the diagnosis.
August 14 2023 – Shirilla is found guilty on all counts. Judge Nancy Margaret Russo calls her ‘hell on wheels’, and the court concludes she intetionally crashed the car in a premeditated act.
August 23 2023 – Shirilla is sentenced to two concurrent 15 years to life sentences. Her legal team later lose an appeal and relief petition. She remains incarcerated in Ohio Refamatory for Women.
May 22 2025 – Mackenzie’s parents insist that she’s innocent. Her father Steve tells WKYC: “Show me one piece of evidence – one – that says she did this on purpose. Show it to me, then she’s right where she belongs and she’s guilty of it. But there isn’t any.” Her mother Natalie claims there are texts in which Shirilla says Russo was ‘trying to end her life’.
May 15 2026 – Netflix’s The Crash premieres. In it, Shirilla insists she is ‘not a murderer’ and has no memory of the crash, continuing to blame POTS.
May 18 2026 – Steve Shirilla is placed on administrative leave from his job as an art and digital media teacher at Mary Queen of Peace School in Cleveland following allegations he had ‘demonstrated poor judgement’. Viewers of Netflix’s documentary objected to his attitude towards Shirilla’s marijuana use and his dismissal of claims she told a classmate to end their life.
September 2037 – This is when Shirilla will be eligible for parole