Mackenzie Shirilla's dad shares reason why he believes his daughter is innocent as their texts are revealed

After the release of Netflix’s The Crash, Mackenzie Shirilla’s parents have received backlash online for proclaiming their daughter’s innocence.

Mackenzie Shirilla is currently serving two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life in prison after driving a car at 100 miles per hour directly into a wall in Strongsville, Ohio. Her boyfriend Dominic Russo and friend, Davion Flanagan were both killed in the crash.

The incident happened in 2022, and a year later she was convicted of 12 felony offences, including murder, felonious assault and aggravated vehicular homicide.

With Netflix’s The Crash, the case has come into the spotlight yet again, as Shirilla spoke about the incident for the first time. Her parents, Steve and Natalie proclaimed her innocence in the documentary, and are fighting her conviction.

Mackenzie's boyfriend Dom died in the crash (Netflix)

Now, Steve Shirilla has shed more light on his feelings towards the crime, telling the True Crime This Week podcast that if his daughter wanted to kill Dominic, she ‘could have used a gun’ in her boyfriend’s house.

“If she was going to do that to Dom, there were guns all over that kid’s house,” he claimed. “If she was going to kill him, that would make more sense to me,”

“She was 17. She’s a dumb kid. She didn’t do it on purpose,” he told host James Renner.

“And I would think if my daughter was that mad, that mad at that boy to want to kill him that way, Davion would have never been in the car,” he added.

It comes after texts between Steve and his daughter were revealed as the local Strongsville PD recently released files related to the case, which included these text messages.

Shirilla will be eligible for parole in 2037 (Image: Netflix)

The texts messages, which were sent in 2020, are now going viral on social media platform TikTok.

Between 25 - 27 March 2020, Steve sent two texts to his daughter asking her to come home.

On April 2, she then asked him to make her some warm milk.

On May 3, Shirilla asked if she could stay over at her boyfriend’s house, to which he replied: “No. Sorry, don’t argue about it, it’s a no.”

After the airing of Netflix’s The Crash, it was revealed that Steve had been placed on leave by his school where he worked as an art and digital media teacher.

“We are investigating allegations made on social media that one of our teachers has demonstrated poor judgement. Upon learning of the allegation the school acted immediately and placed the teacher on administrative leave,” the Mary Queen of Peace School wrote, stating that the investigation was ‘ongoing’.

Mackenzie Shirilla timeline

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