What Did Mackenzie Shirilla Mean by “Warm Milk” in Her Texts?

The release of the Netflix documentary The Crash has brought the case involving Mackenzie Shirilla back into the spotlight, and it’s stirred up quite a bit of debate. For starters, many believe Shirilla’s parents are being overly sensitive toward their daughter and not fully considering the victims and their families.

Many are also questioning the close relationship Shirilla had with her parents, particularly her dad, based on the flood of text messages exchanged between the two. In many of the messages, Shirilla can be seen asking her dad for “warm milk,” but many viewers are convinced that’s code for something else. So, what does it actually mean? Here’s what we found.

Thousands of text messages sent between Mackenzie Shirilla and multiple people, including her then-boyfriend Dominic Russo and her father, have been released for the public to view, and let’s just say people have some questions. While the messages between Shirilla and Russo deserve their own space, let’s take a look at the messages between her and her father and the frequent mention of “warm milk.”

Apparently, Shirilla would ask her dad for warm milk at odd hours of the day, like 10 p.m. or 2 a.m., and many aren’t convinced she was actually requesting a warmed-up dairy beverage.

In one of the messages, per The Tab, Shirilla asks, “Will you make me warm milk?” to which her father replies, “Just saw this. Do you still want?” and she replies no. But the outlet also points out there is frequent mention of weed and alcohol throughout the messages between Shirilla and her father, including her even telling him she could get him some weed.

Mixed in between the messages is also mention of her asking where he left the vodka, even though she was only 15 years old at the time the texts were exchanged.

Since we don’t have Shirilla herself to directly explain what she meant by “warm milk” in those messages to her father, netizens have started forming their own theories based on the information that’s been made public.

Many think Shirilla used “warm milk” as a code phrase with her dad for drugs or alcohol, especially since she reportedly mentioned in one message to be quiet so nobody hears. “I don’t for a minute believe she was talking about actual milk,” one person commented on a Facebook post dedicated to unpacking the meaning behind the warm milk texts.

Another chimed in with, “It's code. I've heard someone ordering weed and their code was can I borrow a screwdriver. It doesn't make sense all the time. But that's what it is.”

Another person shared, “I think it’s code for drugs and not sexual at all,” which signals there are some people who have suggested “warm milk” was something sexual between Shirilla and her father, though that theory hasn’t gained much traction. What most people seem to believe is that “warm milk” was simply code for Shirilla asking her father for something she legally wasn’t permitted to have, like weed.