Family of Mackenzie Shirilla victim fights to modernize Son of Sam laws so Hell on Wheels killer doesnt become Instagram famous

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 The law was originally enacted following public outrage over convicted serial killer David Berkowitz posing to profit off his crimes from book and movie deals in the 1990s.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...