The release of The Crash on Netflix has sparked interest in the Mackenzie Shirilla murder case, four years on.

Mackenzie, then 17, was found guilty of killing two men, ex-boyfriend Dominic Russo, 21, and Davion Flanagan, 19.

It was determined that she had intentionally crashed her car into a brick wall at over 100 mph (160 km/h) in July 2022, before being convicted of murder in 2023.

The judge had explained that she crashed the car on purpose in a premeditated murder and as a result, Mackenzie was convicted of 12 felony charges and sentenced to two concurrent life sentences, with the possibility of parole after 15 years.

And now, an alleged former lover of Mackenzie's has spoken out about how she was when they met behind bars.

The Mackenzie Shirilla documentary has captured the attention of Netflix viewers. Credit: Netflix

Who is Mackenzie's ex-prison girlfriend?

Mackenzie, now 21, is currently serving her prison sentence at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville, known for housing minimum and medium security inmates.

A woman who claims to have dated her said Mackenzie is certain she won't spend her life behind bars.

Shyann Topping, 27, spent two years behind bars after being convicted on drug charges, and claims she started dating Mackenzie just two weeks before she was released.

What did Mackenzie say behind bars?

Speaking to the U.S. Sun, Shyann said, like many others, that Mackenzie had a "popular girl aura."

She added: “She said she was just gonna live it [if she gets out], like she’s gonna go back to concerts. She’s gonna travel,

“She’s gonna be an influencer and write a book when she gets out about everything that happened.

“She said it might take some time, but she’s gonna get out and live it again,” Shyann claimed.

The former convict said that Mackenzie claimed she was not aware of the facts behind the case, believing it was an accident.

Shyann recalled: “I thought, okay, if this girl really is innocent, it would be an amazing story to get out, write a book and blow up off of that and even honor your boyfriend and his friend,

“Then if she did blow up, okay, she could set the families off with her, what is it? Publishing money.”

Upon reflection and having been released, Shyann says that her former lover is actually guilty and wants to be famous.

She allegedly boasted about her nickname in prison, "Shirilla The Killa," as Shyann explained: “Now I’m thinking, okay, she was just trying to grab a piece of fame.

“I don’t think she would do any of that for the families if she got out.

“I think she would throw up a big middle finger to them like, I got away with it.”

Mackenzie Shirilla and Dominic Russo were dating. Credit: Facebook

Mackenzie Shirilla's POTS claim

The subject of The Crash documentary had claimed that she suffers from POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), a disorder linked with the autonomic nervous system, which she claimed gave her a seizure in the car.

However, prosecutors argued this wasn't the case, as Shyann pointed out: “She’s going with this POTS theory when everybody knows it’s not true,

“And then she’s gonna say, go out there, appeal, appeal, appeal, appeal, going with that theory.

“It’s not gonna work. You have to show remorse. You at least gotta tell the families what happened.”

Shyann, who said that she would get intimate with Mackenzie in the prison yard, claimed she saw no POTS symptoms while being with her.

In fact, it was the opposite.

“It was always bubbly, smiley, happy, line-dancing every Friday. I’ve never seen her sad, honestly. She just stays real busy all day,” Shyann said, adding that she even took part in line dancing in the gym.

Mackenzie Shirilla’s family continues to believe she is innocent. Credit: Netflix

What Mackenzie was like in jail

Mackenzie had built up a social media following before being thrown in jail, as she was known for posting videos of her dancing, showing off outfits, or even smoking marijuana while behind the wheel of a vehicle.

She has also posted selfies from prison since, and though marijuana was found in her system at the time of the crash, experts said it was not a contributing factor.

Shyann said that her ex-partner would wake up at 6AM every morning to do her hair and makeup, and that she regularly got money from her parents.

Apparently, inmates were allowed tablets in prison and could read books and listen to music.

Noting that Mackenzie's favorite genre was hip-hop, she said of her hobbies: “She would do art a lot…. would paint cups for people, paint people’s shoes, draw, stuff like that.”

Everyone in prison was assigned a job, and Mackenzie was on the maintenance team.

Shyann said Mackenzie was demanding while they were together, asking to see her at 7AM at first yard as they were in different sections.

“If we did argue, it’s because I didn’t come outside on time or didn’t come outside for that yard,” she recalled.

“And she’d be like, ‘I was waiting for you. Where were you? Like, if this is how it’s gonna go, I just won’t talk to you.'”

Apparently, Mackenzie dropped the L-word despite their relationship being just two weeks old.

She said: “Mackenzie was upset that I was leaving. She would tell me all the time, ‘I wish we met sooner before you were about to get out. I wish you would have talked before this’,” Shyann explained.

While they did video call and stay in touch shortly after Shyann's release, the couple stopped talking as Shyann asked for answers on the crash.

Featured image credit: Ohio Reformatory for Women

A 23-year-old British student - who was given a life sentence and a £100,000 fine in Dubai after a "stupid mistake" - has shared an update.

Mia O’Brien was allegedly caught with 50 grams of cocaine during a trip to the Middle East in October. She pleaded not guilty but was convicted by a judge after a day-long hearing on July 25.

Her mother, Danielle McKenna, says the “trial was all in Arabic,” and that Mia is now being held at Dubai’s Central Prison.

Mia, from Huyton, had been studying law in Liverpool and hoped to become a lawyer or solicitor. Speaking to Mail Online, Danielle said, "Mia feels she has destroyed her life as she wanted to be a lawyer or solicitor. I speak to her but she can't say too much on the phone. She's just made a stupid mistake after going over to see a friend and her boyfriend in Dubai."

Danielle, 46, says Mia is not a drug taker and has never been in trouble before, and she does not believe her daughter intended to sell the drugs or take them home.

Mia is being held in Dubai’s Central Prison, which is widely referenced for overcrowding, violence, and squalid conditions. According to the account shared by her family, inmates face a lack of privacy, with cells designed for three or four packed with far more, and some prisoners sharing beds.

Danielle said, "She is absolutely devastated by what has happened. Mia is being really strong but I know she is going through a living hell. The prison conditions are horrendous. There are no staff really and she has to bang on a big door if she needs anything.

"She's seen fights and said she has been really scared. Mia said she has to sleep on a mattress on the floor and shares the cell with six others. But she's not been ill - she has just come out in a few rashes."

Mia has not paid the £100,000 fine, and an appeal is expected within the coming weeks, her family says.

Danielle shared hopes her daughter could be transferred back to the UK in future, saying, "She said she hopes that she might get sent back to serve her sentence here after Ramadan when they might do clemency deals. But she is devastated by what has happened. We we were all shocked by the sentence she was given.

"But Mia is being really brave about it but she really misses her two young brothers who are aged just five and seven. She just wants to come home. I want her home too - she's my only daughter. I was so shocked when she told me what had happened - I would never had thought it in a million years. She can't wait to come home. She said the prison can be scary but she's just trying to keep her head down."

A GoFundMe launched by Danielle to help with legal fees and travel has been removed by the platform.

A company spokesperson said, "It was removed because it violates Term 9 of the Prohibited Conduct section in our Terms of Service. Term 9 prohibits raising funds on GoFundMe for the legal defence of certain alleged crimes."

Despite the setback, Danielle thanked supporters and explained how funds would help, writing: "Mia has been given a life sentence over in Dubai and she is now in central prison," and later adding, "Mia has been given a life sentence over in Dubai and she is now in central prison. As you can all probably imagine, as her mother I am absolutely devastated. I haven't seen my daughter since last October. Mia is only 23 years old and has never done a bad thing in her life."

She continued, "I just want to thank everyone for their donations so far, this money will be used to send to my daughter Mia, and also for any legal fees that may arise, and maybe even to go towards getting family over to Dubai to see her, as none of us have seen Mia since last October, so thank you all so much."

Loved ones say their priority is to get Mia home and fight what they describe as a “miscarriage of justice.” For now, Mia remains in Dubai’s Central Prison, awaiting the appeal process and hoping for a route back to the UK.

Featured image credit: Naufal MQ / Getty

An Australian woman has avoided jail after tracking down her husband and his mistress using an app before hitting them with her car.

Christie Lee Kennedy, 38, pleaded guilty to the dangerous operation of a motor vehicle in Brisbane District Court on Monday.

The court heard last year that Kennedy had been married to David Larkin for almost a decade when she discovered he had been having an affair with Zowie Noring in March 2021.

She had tracked down her husband using a phone locator app and found him standing on the roadside in the suburb of Wavell Heights with Noring.

Kennedy then drove 45 meters on the wrong side of the road and hit the pair with her BMW SUV, sending them flying to the ground.

Afterward, she got out of the car and grabbed Noring by the hair, repeatedly punched her in the face before hurling abuse at her, including calling her a "fat moll" and a "s**t", per the Daily Mail.

A jury had found her not guilty on two counts of a malicious act with intent to disable but was unable to reach a unanimous or majority verdict on the offenses of assault causing bodily harm in September.

Two assault occasioning bodily harm charges against the mother of two were also withdrawn on Monday.  Kennedy had previously pleaded guilty to common assault for punching Noring in the face.

The incident had occurred after Kennedy used the Find My Phone app to track down Larkin after he told her he was going to pick up their children from daycare.

Instead, she found Larkin and Noring "kissing and cuddling" and accelerated towards them before applying her brakes, the court heard.

The Crown prosecutor said that after driving around 45 meters on the wrong side of the road "her vehicle struck both of them with the front side of the car. Mr Larkin was thrown into the air and onto the road."

They added: "Ms Noring was also thrown onto the road. After hitting Ms Noring, (Kennedy) immediately attacked her which shows a lack of remorse for her actions at the time by punching a person who was laying on the ground after being hit."

The prosecution had argued that Kennedy should be sentenced to three years imprisonment.

Kennedy's defense barrister Penny White argued that she had not intended to hit the pair with her car but had accelerated in their direction to "get there quickly" and "confront them about what was going on".

White added: "The only reason this happened was because her husband was kissing someone else and she wasn't aware of it."

She told the court: "A sentence of actual imprisonment is not within range for this offending in circumstances that there's no deliberate intention to hit them and she used her brakes to stop," calling for a probation order instead of jail time at sentencing.

Kennedy was eventually handed a nine-month jail sentence for the two offenses, suspended for two years, meaning she will not spend time behind bars.

Judge Smith told her: "I think it would be fair to conclude that you would be quite shocked about what you saw there despite what suspicions you had prior.

"You're obviously an excellent employee and a very good mother and it's a real shame you committed this offense but I do form a firm view that this offending is out of character and it's unlikely you'll re-offend with anything like this."

Kennedy was ordered to pay $5,000 compensation each to Larkin and Noring for the emotional and physical; damage caused, and could face a month in jail if she does not make the $10,000 total payment within two weeks.

She was also disqualified from driving for nine months and had convictions applied to her record.

Featured image credit: Stephen Dwyer / Alamy

A woman who was found with 24 homemade pipe bombs and a hit list has remarkably avoided prison.

Michelle Kolts pleaded guilty in order to reduce her charges after she was arrested in 2019 for 24 counts of making, possessing, and discharging a destructive device. Instead of serving prison time, 27-year-old Kolts will be receiving mental health treatment.

Florida police found 24 homemade bombs in Kolts' bedroom at her parents' home in October 2019. Alongside the devices - which were filled with nails and screws - were books about terrorist bombings and a hit list.

The charges Kolts was arrested on held a maximum sentence of 100 years, but she was found to be unfit to stand trial following years of mental health evaluations and treatment. Eventually, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia, Fox News reported.

Her mental health treatment will include counseling at an in-house facility, and she will not receive a record of a criminal conviction, given that she had a clean record and this was her first-time offense.

Fox 13 reported that Kolts appeared before Tampa judge Leann Goudie and agreed to plead guilty and, in exchange for this plea, prosecutors reduced her 24 charges to just 10.

Lindsey Hodges, one of the prosecutors, told the court that Kolts will have to follow a full course of mental health care, stating that she will be subjected to "24 months of community control followed by 15 years probation."

Kolts' attorney Barry Taracks told reporters: "She's not going to suffer the stigma of a conviction on any of those counts as long as she stays crime-free and abides by the terms of her probation."

Many people have been incensed at the idea that Kolts had the potential to cause significant devastation, but that she won't be receiving prison time. This is, however, the nature of using the defence of insanity in Florida - which uses the M'Naghten rule to determine whether someone is legally insane.

Under this rule, it is up to the defense - in this case, Kolts' team - to establish, by clear and convincing evidence, that she suffered from a mental disease or defect at the time the crime was committed. As such, the defense should prove that Kolts firstly did not know what she was doing or, secondly, did not know it was wrong.

Evidently, the defense was able to demonstrate that Kolts was insane at the time her homemade bombs were discovered, hence why her sentence was reduced significantly, per the Kilfin Law Firm.

Featured image credit: amer ghazzal / Art Directors / Alamy

A British law student has been jailed for life in Dubai after being caught with 50 grams of cocaine, with her family describing her ordeal as a “living hell.”

Mia O’Brien, 23, from Huyton in Merseyside, was convicted on July 25 following a day-long hearing which her mother, Danielle McKenna, says was “all in Arabic.”

Mia pleaded not guilty but was sentenced to life imprisonment along with a £100,000 fine. She is now being held in Dubai’s Central Prison, a facility notorious for overcrowding and violence.

Mia had been studying law in Liverpool and hoped to become a lawyer or solicitor before her arrest in October last year. Her mother says she now feels her dreams have been destroyed. Speaking to Mail Online, Danielle said: "Mia feels she has destroyed her life as she wanted to be a lawyer or solicitor. I speak to her but she can't say too much on the phone. She's just made a stupid mistake after going over to see a friend and her boyfriend in Dubai."

Danielle, 46, insists her daughter has never taken drugs and had no intention of selling them or smuggling them back to the UK.

Mia’s current reality inside Central Prison is bleak. According to her mother, "She is absolutely devastated by what has happened. Mia is being really strong but I know she is going through a living hell. The prison conditions are horrendous. There are no staff really and she has to bang on a big door if she needs anything.

"She's seen fights and said she has been really scared. Mia said she has to sleep on a mattress on the floor and shares the cell with six others. But she's not been ill - she has just come out in a few rashes."

She added that Mia misses her younger brothers deeply. "But Mia is being really brave about it but she really misses her two young brothers who are aged just five and seven. She just wants to come home. I want her home too - she's my only daughter. I was so shocked when she told me what had happened - I would never had thought it in a million years. She can't wait to come home. She said the prison can be scary but she's just trying to keep her head down."

An appeal is expected to take place within weeks. Danielle has expressed hope that her daughter might eventually be allowed to serve her sentence in the UK. "She said she hopes that she might get sent back to serve her sentence here after Ramadan when they might do clemency deals. But she is devastated by what has happened. We we were all shocked by the sentence she was given."

Danielle previously launched a GoFundMe campaign to help with legal costs and travel expenses, but the fundraiser was removed. A spokesperson for GoFundMe explained: "It was removed because it violates Term 9 of the Prohibited Conduct section in our Terms of Service. Term 9 prohibits raising funds on GoFundMe for the legal defence of certain alleged crimes."

Despite this, Danielle has thanked those who tried to help. "Mia has been given a life sentence over in Dubai and she is now in central prison. As you can all probably imagine, as her mother I am absolutely devastated. I haven't seen my daughter since last October. Mia is only 23 years old and has never done a bad thing in her life."

She added: "I just want to thank everyone for their donations so far, this money will be used to send to my daughter Mia, and also for any legal fees that may arise, and maybe even to go towards getting family over to Dubai to see her, as none of us have seen Mia since last October, so thank you all so much."

For now, Mia O’Brien remains behind bars in Dubai, awaiting her appeal and holding onto hope of one day returning home.

Featured image credit: Facebook