The magistrate heard witnessed accounts of fishermen discovering the strangled body that was still warm and then seeing a man row away in a boat like the one Frankenstein arrived in. As he listened, Frankenstein heard the similarity between William's murder and this one. M. Kirwin showed Frankenstein the body; it was Henry. Frankenstein lapsed into a delirious fever for several months, ranting and raving about killing the monster. M. Kirwin believed him innocent of the murder and had a doctor and nurse tend to Frankenstein while he was imprisoned. M. Kirwin also contacted Frankenstein's father to come care for his son. Frankenstein was acquitted because of proof that he was on the island where he worked when the body was found. Although Frankenstein was ecstatic to see his father, his grief and remorse overwhelmed him and he sometimes tried to harm himself.
"The cup of life was poisoned forever, and although the sun shone upon me, as upon the happy and gay of heart, I saw around me nothing but a dense and frightful darkness, penetrated by no light but the glimmer of two eyes that glared upon me."Chapter 21, pg. 166
After his acquittal, Frankenstein and his father headed home to Geneva, but Frankenstein's health was still frail.
