Mona Lisa Béroud checked back with the Section Chief of the Louvre who confirmed that the "Mona Lisa" was not with the photographers. The Louvre was closed for an entire week during the investigation. French poet Guillaume Apollinaire came under suspicion and was arrested and imprisoned. Apollinaire implicated his friend Pablo Picasso, who was brought in for questioning. Both were later exonerated. Two years later the thief revealed himself. Louvre employee Vincenzo Peruggia had stolen the "Mona Lisa" by entering the building during regular hours, hiding in a broom closet, and walking out with it hidden under his coat after the museum
Vincenzo Peruggia with banner headlines rejoicing its return and then returned to the Louvre in 1913. While the painting was famous before the theft, the notoriety it received from the newspaper headlines and the large scale police investigation helped the artwork become one of the best known in the world. Peruggia was released from jail after a short time and served in the Italian army during World War I. He later married, had one daughter, Celestina, returned to France, and continued to work as a painter decorator using his birth name Pietro Peruggia. He died on October 8, 1925 (his 44th birthday)