The $15 million price of a life

Mackenzie Shirilla, the convicted double murderer known as the 'Hell on Wheels' killer, is serving a 15-years-to-life sentence for deliberately driving her Toyota Camry into a building at over 100 miles per hour, killing her boyfriend Dominic Russo, 20, and their friend Davion Flanagan, 18.

According to a former inmate at the Ohio Reformatory for Women,Shirilla confessed to fellow prisoners that she intentionally killed her boyfriend and friend, contradicting her public statements that the 2022 tragedy was an accident.

Anastasia , 30, who served time with Shirilla, told the Daily Mail that the then-18-year-old openly admitted to crashing her car on purpose, saying 'she crashed the car because Dom had to die.'

A warped sense of humor

Shirilla's antics behind bars stunned other inmates, including her cellmate Jalisa Roberts, who was also convicted of murder. anastasia noted that despite Shirilla's claims of suffeering from Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), the other inmates 'never heard of that' and she never saw Shirilla pass out.

Shirilla's scrapbook contained only pictures of herself and a photo of a brick wall with the word 'BOOM' written on it,which Anastasia interpreted as a warped joke about the deadly crash .

'She didn't have any pictures of Dom or Davion. I felt like that was cold,' Anastasia said.

A history of disciplinary issues

Prison disciplinary records obtained by the Daily Mail document multiple infractions related to Shirilla's lesbian activities, including a September 2023 incident where she allegedly exposed her breasts on a video call, while the visitor displayed a sex toy and undressed.

Shirilla pleaded guilty to that incident, resulting in a 60-day ban on video calls. In total, she has accumulated 36 disciplinary reports.

Open questions

Why did Shirilla's public innocence claims seem so convincing, despite her prison confessions?

What role did her alleged use of K2, a synthetic drug made from smoking paper sprayed with chemicals, play in her actions?

Will Shirilla's prison disciplinary records be used as evidence in her appeal?

Editorial take

Headlines Orbit's read of this case is that the revelations paint a picture of an inmate who not only confesses to her crimes but also revels in her notoriety. The former inmates' statements strongly suggest that Shirilla's public innocence claims are a facade,and that she takes pride in the murders she committed.