This episode was most likely inspired by the 2007 murder of British exchange student Meredith Kercher. Ms. Kercher was an exchange student in Italy, living with a roommate. That roommate was a U.S. exchange student named Amanda Knox, who was later accused, and then acquitted, of Kercher's murder. The press nicknamed Ms. Knox "Foxy Knoxy", and in this Law & Order SVU episode, the female character accused of murdering the victim Maria is nicknamed "Sexy Lexi".
This episode is dedicated to Jery Hewitt, who died on 21 Nov 2020 of an undisclosed cause. Jery was stunt coordinator on 205 episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) and 97 episodes of Law & Order (1990), as well as over 200 other shows and movies.