Mackenzie Shirilla's Life Behind Bars Exposed: 'Hell On Wheels' Killer Now 'Prolific Lesbian' and Sees Herself as 'a Celebrity' After Horrific Murders
Mackenzie Shirilla is reportedly rediscovering herself in prison.
June 3 2026, Published 6:45 p.m. ET
Mackenzie Shirilla has reportedly become a "prolific lesbian behind bars," RadarOnline.com has learned, and has had multiple relationships with other female inmates, as she serves a life sentence for killing her boyfriend and another passenger in a gruesome car crash.
Other inmates say the killer quickly developed a "taste for similar 'lifers' in prison with her."
Mackenzie Shirilla Has Come Into Her Own Behind Bars
Shirilla is serving multiple sentences for killing her boyfriend (above) and another person in a car crash.
Shirilla was 17 when she murdered her 21-year-old boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and their pal Davion Flanagan, 19, in the horrific crash on July 31, 2022.
She is currently serving two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life after being convicted in August 2023 of murder, aggravated vehicular homicide, and other charges, and reportedly has been exploring her sexuality behind bars.
One former inmate named "Kat" claimed Shirilla would walk around the prison showing off numerous hickeys on her neck.
"People would talk about her girlfriends, and you'd hear about her falling out with them," Kat told the Daily Mail. "In prison, it's very common, especially for people in her life sentence situation, and especially with the younger girls."
Mackenzie Shirilla's Troubles in Prison
Shirilla reportedly turned on her fellow female inmates.
Prison records indicate Shirilla has been written up several times for having "consensual sexual contact" with other inmates.
Other reported infractions revealed that Shirilla has been punished for having cyber s-- with another woman while using her prison-issued tablet computer.
One former inmate named Shyann Topping claimed to have been in a relationship with Shirilla, and hoped the two would "be together" on the outside.
Topping confessed she fell for Shirilla's good looks and charm at first, but later said she was turned off by her personality and "mean behavior" towards other inmates.
Mackenzie Shirilla's Father Believes She's Innocent
Steve Shirilla believes his daughter is innocent.
Shirilla reportedly thinks of herself as a celebrity, especially after gaining fame from the Netflix documentary The Crash. Yet, despite her conviction, she continues to maintain her innocence, saying she suffered a medical condition before plowing her car into a brick wall at more than 100 mph.
It's a position strongly supported by her father, Steve Shirilla. Speaking on the True Crime This Week podcast, he insisted his daughter never intended to kill her boyfriend or friend.
"She was 17. She's a dumb kid. She didn't do it on purpose," Steve said, adding that if Mackenzie had truly wanted Russo dead, "there were guns all over that kid's house."
He argued prosecutors wrongly portrayed the crash as a murder-suicide attempt and maintained, "Something happened in that car. No one's ever going to know. She's innocent of the charges they put upon her."
'Other Ways' To Kill Someone
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Mackenzie Shirilla was convicted of murdering boyfriend Dominic Russo and another friend.
Steve insisted that even if she was angry at Russo, there was no way she would punish their mutual friend Flanagan as well.
"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," Steve added. "That makes no sense."
Besides, if Mackenzie really wanted to kill her boyfriend, Steve revealed that all she would have needed to do was grab one of the many guns he had lying around his home.
"If she was going to do that to Dom, there were guns all over that kid’s house," Steve explained. "If she was going to kill him, that would make more sense to me."
