To fulfill Parsons' funeral wishes, Kaufman and a friend stole his body from Los Angeles International Airport and in a borrowed hearse, they drove it to Joshua Tree. Upon reaching the Cap Rock section of the park, they attempted to cremate Parsons' body by pouring five gallons of gasoline into the open coffin and throwing a lit match inside. What resulted was an enormous fireball. The police gave chase but, as one account puts it, the men "were unencumbered by sobriety," and they escaped. Another telling indicates that the police did not "give chase", but that Kaufman and friend were arrested for (presumably?) an "open-container/motor-vehicle" violation and/or suspected DUI, and somehow escaped that arrest.