VALDOSTA — An audiotape supposedly containing a confession in the death case of Kendrick “KJ” Johnson has been determined to be not genuine, the Lowndes County sheriff said Wednesday.

The body of Johnson was found upside-down in a vertically stored gym mat at Lowndes High School in January 2013. A state autopsy ruled the 17-year-old’s death accidental, and a federal review of the case ended in 2016 when the Department of Justice announced it had not found “sufficient evidence to support federal criminal charges.”

The Johnson family has maintained their son died of foul play and have filed multiple lawsuits against dozens of defendants through the years.

The Atlanta chapter of a national organization paid an individual $1,000 for the tape, supposedly made by a second cousin of a family that had been sued by Johnson family over the teen’s death, Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk said.

“They don’t even have a second cousin, not that we’ve found,” the sheriff said.

The tape had been subjected to extensive analysis, he said.

The person who confessed to making it said it was not genuine, Paulk said.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.