BATES CITY, Mo. -- A autopsy was scheduled Sunday morning for the man found inside a burning church in Bates City.

Witnesses said they heard an explosion at about 2 p.m. Saturday at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses church on Old Highway 40 and Foggy Bottom Road.

When firefighters arrived, they found the church engulfed in flames.

Once crews put out the fire, they found a body inside.

Authorities called the victim's death a suicide and said the fire was suspicious.