This episode appears to be based on two separate cases/incidents:
- Partially ripped from the 1989 crime thriller film Hit List (1989).
- The 1984 Gary Plauché case.
This episode also appears to be partly inspired by the real-life murders of two women, who had the same name. The Law & Order episode features three women who were murdered, and they were all named Sylvia Rossi. The only connection between the victims is that they share the same name. In October of 2000, two women named Mary Morris were murdered in Houston, Texas, just four days apart. The families of the first victim, Mary Lou Morris, firmly believe that their Mary was murdered by accident. Their theory is that the hit man intended to murder the second Mary, Mary McGinnis Morris only, but had killed the first Mary in a case of mistaken identity. Both homicides remain unsolved to this day.