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The discoveries of a body, a few splatters of blood, mysterious blue liquids and a lone pork pie hat in an abandoned trailer truck recently were investigated by Rio Rancho High School students.

“It’s a meth lab,” said one student.

“It’s Heisenberg,” said another, referring to AMC’s “Breaking Bad.”

About 200 students in the school’s popular forensics elective class participated in the morning exercise. The class, which teaches pathology, DNA testing and crime-scene processing, culminates with a similar project each spring, said forensics teacher Natalie Ballew.

This year’s study crime scene mimicked the scripted crime scenes of “Breaking Bad,” the fictional TV drama that followed two New Mexican meth producers and sellers.

Working in groups, students had to interview eyewitnesses, as well as take photos and examine blood samples, Ballew said. She said students have three weeks to examine evidence before presenting their findings to the class.

Ballew said she hopes the project provides students with as close to a real-world experience in the field as the school can offer.

“TV makes it seem so glorious and glamorous of an experience, but it’s really just people working behind closed doors as a lab tech, so it’s not all that dramatized,” she said.