CLEVELAND, Ohio – The family of one of the young men killed when Mackenzie Shirilla intentionally plowed her car into a brick wall is fighting to ensure the convicted double murderer never profits off the crime that shattered their lives.
Christine Russo said her family has been “ruined” since Shirilla, then 17, killed her brother, Dominic Russo, 20, and their friend, Davion Flanagan, 19, in the horrific July 2022 crash.
“He was just nothing to [Shirilla], but obviously not to us in our family,” a tearful Russo, 37, told The Post from her family home about 6.5 miles from the fatal site. “We are really, really bad.”
With renewed interest in the case fueled by Netflix’s new No. 1 documentary “The Crash,” Russo and her family have launched a petition urging Ohio lawmakers to strengthen the state’s Son of Sam law.
The law was originally enacted following public outrage over convicted serial killer David Berkowitz posing to profit off his crimes from book and movie deals in the 1990s.
Russo wants the Buckeye State’s statute modernized for the social media age, expanding it beyond traditional media to cover online influence, including Instagram followings, sponsorships, brand deals and other Internet-driven opportunities.
“This is all she’s ever wanted was attention,” Russo said of Shirilla, who frequently posted on social media and had dreams of becoming a model before landing behind bars.
Shortly after her arrest, the “Hell on Wheels” killer and her mother, Natalie Shirilla, were heard in a recorded jail call cackling over the global attention surrounding her double-murder case – and gleefully predicting that A-listers would soon come calling.
Former inmates at Ohio Women’s Reformatory, where Shirilla has been serving two concurrent terms of 15 years to life since August 2023, have told The Post she showed zero remorse behind bars.
Instead, she treated lockup like a “popularity contest,” pranced around like the queen bee of “Mean Girls” and frequently snapped selfies with her prison-issued tablet.
“Within hours – not days – of killing two young men, she’s sitting on her phone [taking] selfies, shooting TikToks and trying to get modeling gigs,” Russo claimed. “That’s all she’s ever cared about.”
Now, with the Netflix film thrusting the case back into the spotlight, Russo fears Shirilla could ultimately get exactly what she has always wanted.
“With this movie, I just know how, if she ever does get out….how easy it’s going to be for her to get Instagram famous, or, you know, what she’s always wanted,” she explained.
Russo also worries that existing laws leave room for Shirilla’s embattled parents to financially benefit.
“There are no laws preventing her family from profiting off of this and then sending her the money,” Russo said. “So we’re just looking into certain loopholes like that as well.”
The online petition, titled “Dom’s Law: Victims Before Influencers,” has amassed more than 145,000 signatures.
Ohio lawmakers already took steps to extend the law, introducing legislation in 2025 that would expand the law to include online fundraising through sites like GoFundMe.
Russo described Shirilla as a “spoiled, rotten, nasty person” and said she would “fear for society” if she was ever released from lockup. Shirilla is currently appealing her conviction for a second time.
The grieving sister also pointed blame at Shirilla’s parents, Natalie and Steve, for their seemingly permissive approach to parenting, as well as their daughter’s crimes.
“I think they need to be reminded that we are the victims here and that they are not, you know what I mean?” Russo said.
“Some people are just born narcissistic and self-absorbed…and then mixed with how she was raised and not ever being held accountable.
“She was a monster.”
Her criticism echoed those of Shirilla’s former pal Jayna Mainard, who previously told The Post that Natalie and Steve were more concerned with winning their daughter’s approval than raising her right.
“From what I see, they didn’t really care about her. They cared more to have her approval,” said Maynard, who met Mackenzie in middle school.
“Kenzie runs the show — she runs her parents,” the 21-year-old added. “They shouldn’t have been her friend. They should have been her parents.”
Russo also ripped Shirilla’s claim in the Netflix doc that she and Dominic might have been married by now, had the deadly crash never happened.
“No, honey, you just came in for a couple of years…you’re delusional,” Russo said. “They would not have been together.”
Life without Dominic, she added, has felt like “a nightmare.”
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