Pilar Witherspoon has played three different roles over the course of the series:
- Episode 17.8 Melancholy Pursuit (2015) - Helen Ryan
- Episode 5.18 Careless (2004) - Julia Hynton
- Episode 5.2 Manic (2003) - Julia Hynton
- Episode 2.10 Consent (2001) - Officer Owens
Det. Stabler (Christopher Meloni) says "That autistic kid who died in a Milwakee Church. The parishioners held him down, they were laying on top of him to cure him". This refers to the 2003 murder of Terrance Cottrell, an 8-year-old autistic boy from Milwakee, Wisconsin. He died of suffocation at a prayer service where church members tried to exorcise him of "demons". The young boy was held down by worshipers and a priest, and died of mechanical asphyxia due to external chest compression. The minister was found guilty of a felony charge of physical abuse of a child, recklessly causing great bodily harm.