Cold Case

Title: Blank Generation The title of this episode is possibly derived from the album Blank Generation by Richard Hell & The Voidoids, released in 1977. The title song on the album has the lines "I belong to the blank generation / and I can take it or leave it each time", which is very reminiscent of the cult theme in this episode.

Det. Rush: They were gonna pull their own Jonestown. The Peoples Temple was a cult founded in 1953. In the 1970's the cult leader Jim Jones decided to form a Utopian village called Jonestown in Guyana, Southern America. Following a visit by a U.S. congressman and an ensuing shootout as several of the cult members attempted to flee the village, Jones ordered a mass suicide. On November 18, 1978 over 900 people died of drinking of soft drink laced with Valium and cyanide. The Jonestown mass suicide also produced the saying "drink the Kool-Aid", defined as being a blind believer or follower of a cause. However, contrary to common belief the drink used in the mass suicide was actually not Kool-Aid but a similar product called Flavor-Aid.

Bill Crawford: Now, or Charlie Manson here gets it! In the late 1960's, Charles Manson created a cult-like community called "The Family", made up of young followers who were fanatically loyal to Manson. He planned and ordered some of the community members to commit several brutal murders. On January 25, 1971 Manson was convicted for the murders and is currently serving a life sentence in Corcoran State Prison in California.