The murder victim in this episode, nicknamed by Booth as "Cement head", is named after the costume supervisor of the show, Billy Ray McKenna.
When Dr. Brennan finds her father, played by Ryan O'Neal, in her apartment, she tries to contact the FBI. Her father says, "[I want to] actually talk to you without you calling in the 82nd Airborne." In the movie A Bridge Too Far (1977), Ryan O'Neal played Brigadier General James Gavin, one of the commanding generals of the 82nd Airborne Division during World War II.
When West Virginia thug Melvin Gallagher Tells Brennan and Bones about his bar in WV, he refers to a place "where 119 meets the 64" - an actual place in Charleston (the state Capital). The nearest exit to the actual meeting place is home to two TV stations and some bars, on the edge of a very rough section of town.
This is one of the few episodes in the series where Booths life is put in serious jeapordy.
Cement vs concrete is mentioned repeatedly. Cement is generally Portland cement, dry, finely ground calcined limestone which becomes a slurry when mixed with water, the slurry then cureing to a very hard very brittle substance. To make concrete you add aggregates, generally a mix of sand and gravel. These aggregates make concrete less brittle and much tougher than mere cement. Oddly, the supposed concrete where we first see the skull exposed, and the bronchial tube and sinus cavity concrete casts have a uniformly fine texture completely lacking in aggregates.