This episode was loosely based off the catfish episode that featured the case of basketball player Chris Andersen and Paris Dylan.
The road trip to catch Heather Parcell in West Virginia is the first time Carisi and Rollins go on a road trip since the season 17 premiere, where they traveled with serial killer Carl Rudnick.
When Carisi and Rollins are in the bar in West Virginia, he says "Don't start getting all teary-eyed, and singing 'Dixie' on me" Kelli Giddish played the part of Dixie on the soap opera All My Children (1970).
Heather Riggs' alias "Blimpy" is possibly in connection with the username "Smiggles", which was used on an online forum that was about mass shootings by the Sandy Hook elementary school shooter Adam Lanza.