On 15 April 1998, Pol Pot died in his sleep, apparently of heart failure. Thayer claims that Pol Pot committed suicide by drinking poison because of his belief that the Khmer Rouge were planning to "hand him over to the Americans". His body was preserved with ice and formaldehyde so that his death could be verified by journalists attending his funeral. Three days later, his wife cremated his body on a pyre of tyres and rubbish, utilising traditional Buddhist funerary rites.