The radiation subplot is very similar to the real life Goiânia accident which occurred in Brazil in 1987. Two men stole a cesium chloride source from an abandoned radiotherapy institute, and broke it apart for scrap. By the time the authorities found out, the scrap had changed hands several times. In the end, four people died, and around 112,000 had to be tested for radiation exposure.
Rob Lowe has a real life fascination with unexplained mysteries. Lowe and his two sons appeared in "The Lowe Files." In the show, they travel through the country to explore infamous unsolved mysteries, a curiosity that Rob has had since his early childhood days and has now been passed down to his boys.
Interesting how when the crew went to save the family where the daughter had bought a radioactive present for her mother, that the tongs they just happened to bring along were just the right diameter for the bottle that the radiation was contained in.