US4 min(s) read
Published 15:31 20 May 2026 GMT
The truth about Mackenzie Shirilla has been revealed by a former inmate, following the release of a Netflix documentary covering her murder case.
Shirilla was found guilty of killing two men after intentionally crashing her car into a brick wall at over 100 mph (160 km/h), and was convicted of murder in 2023.
She was just 17 at the time of the crime in 2022, but in a trial the following year, it was determined by a judge that she crashed the car on purpose in a premeditated murder.
As a result, Shirilla was convicted of 12 felony charges and sentenced to two concurrent life sentences, with the possibility of parole after 15 years.
But now, an alleged former inmate of hers from the Ohio Reformatory for Women has claimed that the latest documentary on the case, titled The Crash, doesn't portray Shirilla in an accurate light.
Former inmate Mary Katherine Crowder, who served time at the prison with Shirilla, told the New York Post that the woman in the documentary was nothing like the one she knew behind bars.
She explained: “When she walked out in the documentary, my jaw literally dropped, because her demeanor and the way that she looked was nothing like the person I was in there with.”
Rather, Shirilla was allegedly done up behind bars and acted like Rachel McAdams' character from "Mean Girls," said Crowder.
She even claimed that the convict would sport hickeys as a result of hooking up with other women, while both Shirilla's parents and her sugar daddies would help pay for makeup and new clothes.
But this is a stark contrast to what we see in the Netflix doc, which is now No. 1 on the streaming service platform.
Shrilla, who is now 21, appears behind bars in the documentary, where she shows remorse for the crash, stating that she is "not a monster."
However, Crowder has claimed that this version of Shirilla was a huge contrast to the "little high school girl" she saw behind bars for over six months in 2024.
Crowder recalled: “When I was in there with her, you’d look at her and she had her makeup done every day, she was very well put together — almost like preppy,
“But in the documentary, she did not look like that at all — she almost looked like she was conforming to the people who have been there for a while.
“Even the way she talks is completely different — she talked like a Valley girl when I was in there with her. Her voice was very happy-go-lucky and high-pitched, but now she has an edge to her voice.”
She said that the "character" in the doc wasn't anything like the woman she met while serving time on outstanding misdemeanor warrants from Tennessee in April 2024.
Crowder said that Shirilla enjoyed her prison celebrity status, recalling: “Everyone knew why she was there, and she walked around like she was this famous person within prison,
“She always had makeup done, hair done, her clothes were altered to fit her body tighter or be different.
“She definitely carried herself like she was the Regina George of prison … she was very much like an ‘It girl.’”
Crowder said that she wouldn't really grieve her friends, as she claimed she did in the Netflix doc, instead claiming that she was "always smiling and happy" in prison.
"Like, it was never on her mind that she was serving two concurrent 15-to-life sentences because she killed two people,” Crowder claimed.
The former inmate said that she would even sell customized jewelry and shoes to others behind bars.
Crowder previously spoke about her past with Shirilla with several videos on TikTok earlier this month, claiming that Shirilla treated jail like a "high school popularity contest."
The inmate claimed in one of the videos that she never saw Shirilla cry, adding: “She walked around like she thinks she’s gonna get out.”
As well as this, she had numerous romantic relationships with other female inmates, explaining: “Yes, Mackenzie has had multiple girlfriends … she was walking around with hickeys on her neck,
“She’s gone to ‘the hole’ [solitary confinement] for being intimate with girls in prison.
“If she were grieving or remorseful, she would not have gone to prison and jumped into prison relationships over the next six months.”
