Former co-inmate of Mackenzie Shirilla tells all on ‘The Crash’ convicted killer

[0:00] Even if you haven't had a chance to check out the new Netflix documentary, The Crash, [0:05] you've probably seen some of the reactions on social media, right? People are absolutely [0:10] ripping the Docs star Mackenzie Schirrilla for her behavior after causing the deadly high-speed [0:17] crash that killed her boyfriend, 20-year-old Dominic Russo, and his friend, 19-year-old [0:22] Davian Flanagan. Now, Mackenzie, who was just 17 when she drove that car into a brick wall, [0:28] was found guilty of murder in 2022 after police revealed the accelerator on her 2018 Toyota Camry [0:34] was at 100% in the seconds before the crash. And some viewers are saying that Mackenzie's [0:40] remorse in the Doc was all just for show. I'm not saying I'm innocent. I was a driver of a tragedy, [0:51] but I'm not a murderer. Now, as proof, they're pointing to a TikTok video that she posted months [0:58] after the crash in which she dressed up like a corpse on Halloween. And that's on top of all [1:03] the videos she put up showing alleged reckless driving and drug use. But Mackenzie and her [1:07] parents have maintained she's innocent, that the crash was caused by Mackenzie's POTS diagnosis, [1:13] POTS being a blood pressure disorder that can cause dizziness and fatigue, particularly when someone [1:17] goes from lying down to standing up. And speaking of Mackenzie's parents, they've been caught up in [1:20] this whole backlash too, because Mackenzie's mom, Natalie Shrilla, has drawn fire for her arguably [1:27] bizarre victim impact statement, where she said that her daughter needed, quote, a second of fun [1:32] after the accident. And new video of Natalie speaking to Mackenzie in her new home at the Ohio [1:38] Reformatory for Women back in 2023. It's raising even more questions about the family, because [1:42] the argument is, is they're talking like some kind of coded, strange, gibberish language. Take a listen. [1:48] Yes, please tell them I don't want to be unprotective. Please tell them that. [1:53] I am. I'm not causing a single problem since I've been here. [2:05] I know you haven't. I'm talking about in general overall. [2:10] Yeah. So is the Mackenzie Shrilla millions watched in that Netflix doc actually putting on an act? [2:15] I'll tell you what, Kat Crowder sure thinks so. She served six months with Mackenzie in that [2:19] women's prison. And she says the girl she knew behind bars is nothing like the remorseful inmate [2:24] seen in the doc. Joining me now is social media influencer Kat Crowder. Thank you so much for [2:28] taking the time. Why do you believe that? Thank you for having me. I, when Mackenzie first walked [2:36] out in the documentary, my jaw was dropped because that was not the person that I saw in prison when [2:42] I was with her. Um, she walked around in a very light demeanor, if that makes sense. So lots of [2:50] laughing, lots of giggling, you know, makeup done every day. It was never this dark, smug, tough girl [2:57] act that was in this video trying to portray some sort of remorse. I never, you know, I don't know what [3:04] somebody's thinking. I don't know what's going on in her head, but from my observations, there was never [3:08] any, you know, behaviors that looked like somebody who was remorseful. Did she ever talk about the [3:14] crash? Did she ever talk about the victims in the case? Um, not directly to me, but I've spoke to a few [3:22] women, um, since me being released and, you know, going on about her case. And they've came out and said [3:31] that they had conversations with her and she informed them that it was not due to POTS. It was [3:39] due to her being high. You know, there's a few different stories that she's had. Um, one was that [3:45] she had no idea, you know, she didn't remember amnesia. So, um, there's a few things that she [3:51] circulated. Did you ever see, talking about POTS, did you ever see any of those symptoms when you [3:56] were with her, when you were around her? Not once. She seems like a very healthy young girl. I mean, [4:02] she was constantly on the yard. There were even times where we were in the middle of a heat wave [4:07] and she was laying out with baby oil tanning in a hundred degrees weather. She was very active, [4:13] always walking. I never saw her got blood, like get blood pressure checks, routine or emergency. I never [4:20] saw her go to take any sort of medication. She seemed very healthy to me. What did she talk about? [4:26] Like, what did she say then if she was, you know, kind of like happy and optimistic? [4:30] Um, again, I wouldn't consider myself somebody who was friends with her. So our conversations were [4:36] very limited. I mean, we had to, and it was about things that she was making jewelry. She was making [4:41] jewelry, customizing shoes for people, um, hats, but the people that were close to her that I have [4:48] spoken to, you know, she was just kind of thinking she was in high school. She was not focused on [4:56] the fact that, you know, she hurt, murdered two people. Um, and well, in one of your posts, [5:07] you mentioned that Mackenzie used to have hickeys on her neck. What's going on there? How do you? [5:14] Yeah. So it's kind of normal. I don't want to say normal, but it's common for some of the women in [5:23] there to form relationships, like intimate relationships. And towards the end of my sentence, [5:28] before I was about to be released, I saw Mackenzie walking the track on the yard and she did have [5:35] large hickeys and it's come out since then that she's had multiple girlfriends since being incarcerated [5:42] doing who knows what. So I'm sure that just had to result from another one of those. [5:48] Was she a mean girl in the prison? Um, I do say that she wanted to be like Regina George. I mean, [5:57] just the way that she did her makeup, the way that she, I mean, it was like she was going out, [6:03] um, to a club or something or going, she thought she was going to be famous or photographed. She [6:10] would wear her clothes altered. So they would be form fitting and she would make fun of people who [6:16] had less than she did because she was well taken care of inside prison. She is taken care of. [6:22] What do you, what do you think about all the reaction that she's getting, you know, [6:26] in the wake of this documentary? I mean, like I said, in my video, I think that [6:32] the documentary was filmed in a way to make her and her family look a certain way and not in her [6:40] favor. And I do think it's crazy, you know, because she strives to be famous even before [6:46] getting in trouble. Um, and before all of this, she wanted to be an influencer and all of the things. [6:53] And it's almost like she's kind of achieved that, but in a different manner of being infamous. [6:58] Yeah. Well, that's, that's for sure. Look, it's so hard to judge, you know, what somebody's acting [7:02] like in prison, if they're putting on an act because who they're around or, you know, you're [7:06] seeing the real Mackenzie, it's just very odd. So Kat Crowder, thank you so much for sharing your [7:11] observations with us about this. It's really an important story and I appreciate you coming on. [7:16] Yeah. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. [7:17] You got it.