A local minister whose partially burned body was discovered Thursday in his Huntsville home died from smoke inhalation, authorities said, but the cause of the fire remains undetermined.

Huntsville Police spokesman Wendell Johnson said in a statement Tuesday investigators do not suspect foul play in the death of James Bernard Sanders, 41, who was an associate minister at New Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church on Dogwood Flats Road near Tanner.

Sanders had not been seen since Easter Sunday and was found dead four days later. The fire that had burned part of the home and caused Sanders’ death apparently began then extinguished itself during that time.

Police could not immediately categorize the death as accident or homicide and ordered an autopsy. The preliminary results were released Tuesday.

Sanders’ mother, Sue Harris of Athens, said she does not believe the fire started accidentally. Harris said she was taken Monday to Athens-Limestone Hospital in a delayed state of shock. Another of her sons, 19-year-old Kelvin, died 19 years ago in a car wreck.

Harris said investigators initially said Sanders’ body was found sitting in a chair inside the partially burned home at 3709 Pecan Grove Drive that he shared with his wife, Nancy. She was later told his body was lying face down on the bedroom floor, she said.

Harris called police to her son’s home Thursday when he did not answer the phone or the door. She worried something had happened to him. Harris was not allowed to enter the home once investigators cordoned it off as a crime scene, and she said she is not sure how much fire damage was done to the home.

Nancy Sanders had reportedly left the home April 16.

Harris said her son had recently asked his wife for a divorce.

Sanders, a 1983 graduate of Athens High School, learned woodwork at Limestone/Career Technical Center, his mother said. He owned and operated Sanders Cabinet Shop in northwest Huntsville.

Friends described Sanders as being a tall man — about 6 feet, 2 inches — who stuttered and had a big heart.

Huntsville Police Sgt. Ed Cain said Huntsville firefighters, police and forensic investigators gathered evidence at Sanders’ home.

Sanders had four children — a boy, 20, and three girls, 18, 15, and 7.

The funeral for Sanders will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at New Hopewell M.B. Church with the Rev. Larry Lockett officiating. Burial will be in Thatch-Mann Cemetery in Athens. Royal Funeral Home on Oakwood Avenue in Huntsville is handling funeral arrangements.