Episode
What Did Mackenzie Shirilla Ask Her Mother To Tell Police On A Decoded Prison Call?
- Published
- Jun 13, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2369
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://audioboom.com/posts/8915454
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/hidden-killers-live-daily-true-crime-news-breakdowns-5650841/episodes/what-did-mackenzie-shirilla-ask-her-mother-to-tell-police-on-a-decoded-prison-call/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/hidden-killers-live-daily-true-crime-news-breakdowns-5650841/what-did-mackenzie-shirilla-ask-her-mother-to-tell-police-on-a-decoded-prison-call.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
Prosecutors decoded calls where Mackenzie Shirilla and her mother Natalie spoke in a private made-up language to evade prison monitoring. In one decoded exchange, Mackenzie allegedly asked if they could tell police she had a seizure before the crash. Those calls were introduced as evidence during the trial that convicted her of killing Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan. That decoded conversation sits at the center of two questions Eric Faddis examines. First: what legal exposure does Natalie Shirilla face for participating in communications designed to circumvent monitoring — communications that contained what prosecutors characterized as an attempt to fabricate evidence? Second: is this family collectively building a record against the very person they're trying to free? Natalie was recorded on a separate monitored call telling Mackenzie that Dominic Russo's family are "evil people." Steve Shirilla lost his teaching position at Mary Queen of Peace School after the Diocese of Cleveland declined to renew his contract following his appearance on Netflix's The Crash. On a podcast, he challenged anyone to produce evidence his daughter acted deliberately — while a judge's written findings documenting exactly that sit in the public record. On camera, he said he was comfortable with his daughter's substance use while employed at a Catholic elementary school. Inside the Ohio Reformatory for Women, Mackenzie's institutional record has grown to thirty-six conduct violations in under three years — guilty on thirty-two. Unauthorized medication. Altered clothing. Contraband. Refusing work assignments. Over a hundred video visits with an unapproved former inmate conducted under someone else's name. She refuses rehabilitation programs. She refers to herself as the third person harmed…