The mom of “Hell on Wheels” killer Mackenzie Shirilla is whining about how her daughter is “struggling” and placing on weight in jail — whereas insisting she nonetheless loves the boyfriend she murdered.
Natalie Shirilla complained to the Each day Mail that her now-21-year-old daughter is “mentally struggling” whereas holed up within the Ohio Reformatory for Ladies in Marysville, the place she is serving two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life for killing boyfriend Dominic Russo and a buddy in 2022.
“She’s struggling … It’s very exhausting and difficult in there,” the 51-year-old mother complained.
“She’s really gained just a little little bit of weight … She appears to be like bodily higher however she’s nonetheless mentally struggling.”
Natalie mentioned her daughter — who was nicknamed “Hell on Wheels” by the choose in her trial — “nonetheless loves” Russo, whom she was convicted of murdering by intentionally crashing her automobile right into a wall at greater than 100 mph.
“’I beloved Dom. I nonetheless love Dom. Mackenzie nonetheless loves Dom. She’s struggling. Dom was like a part of our household,” the still-supportive mother mentioned.
She emphatically debunked reviews that Russo had tried to interrupt up with Shirilla earlier than he was killed within the deadly smash in a suburb of Cleveland that additionally claimed the lifetime of a 19-year-old pal. Davion Flanagan.
Shirilla, who was 17 on the time of the crash, and the 2 victims have been driving round and getting excessive when she out of the blue gunned the engine and smashed the automobile right into a warehouse at 100 mph.
However Natalie admitted Shirilla and Russo’s relationship may generally be risky.
However she mentioned her daughter has solely stored quiet about all of it on the protecting mother’s recommendation.
“‘Every part that she has mentioned about [Russo], even within the nicest, most harmless means, has been used towards her in a means that makes her look evil or a monster,” she mentioned.
“So, if I used to be her, I’d by no means discuss once more ever, as a result of no matter you say goes for use towards you.”
Natalie Shirilla additionally defended her daughter over her conduct in jail, the place she has been discovered responsible of 32 of her 36 jail conduct violations.
“Plenty of the tickets she bought have been for stuff she wouldn’t even know have been guidelines, like sporting her uniform,” she claimed.
In 2024, Shirilla was charged with possession of contraband after cops discovered 29 banned objects following a cell search and he or she pleaded responsible after officers uncovered nude journal snaps, WOIO reported.
In January final yr, cops uncovered treatment not prescribed to the killer and when probed, she claimed the tablets have been prenatal nutritional vitamins she had acquired from one other particular person.
Shirilla pleaded responsible to having greater than 100 video visits with a launched ex-inmate, and exposing her breast throughout one other video name.
Her different infractions have included enjoying together with her pill, “dancing” and hanging out in unauthorized areas and after lights out, blabbing via guards’ headcounts.
Shirilla beforehand boasted how her nickname was “Shirilla the killa” however Natalie tried to say her daughter wasn’t “aggressive.”
The killer has since landed a gig as a meals service employee after moaning to her mother she was bored as a result of there was “nothing for me to do” in a leaked name obtained by TMZ.
Shirilla was sentenced to life in jail in August 2023, however the Netflix documentary “The Crash” re-sparked the frenzy surrounding the case.
She shall be eligible for parole in October 2037.
Shirilla’s attorneys proceed to battle the Ohio Supreme Court docket after it rejected her enchantment as a result of it was filed after the deadline.
