Kidnapping Suspect Is Freed on Bail in Puerto Rico

The woman found masquerading as the mother of a child kidnapped in San Diego seven years ago has been freed on bail, and she says she expects to visit the girl she still calls her daughter.

“I’m very happy and confident that I will see her over Christmas,” Nilsa Gierbolini Guzman, 35, said Tuesday night as she left the women’s prison in the coastal town of Vega Alta.

Last week, Gierbolini’s lawyers said she would ask a Puerto Rican court for custody of Crystal Leann Anzaldi, now 8. The girl’s parents, Jeffrey and Dorothy Anzaldi, who divorced after their daughter’s disappearance, also are seeking custody.

Gierbolini lived in San Diego at the time of Crystal’s disappearance, but the details of how the girl ended up in her custody are still murky. Gierbolini said someone left Crystal in her care and never returned for her.

The Anzaldis have said they did not know Gierbolini.

After speaking with Jeffrey Anzaldi, his brother-in-law Dan Martin said Tuesday that “we are very unhappy and disgusted” at Gierbolini’s release and her desire to see Crystal.

“I know he’s very hurt by the fact that she thinks she has rights to Crystal. She has none,” Martin said.

Martin said Gierbolini should not be allowed to see the child, who is in the custody of the Department of the Family in Puerto Rico. Officials from the department could not be reached for comment Tuesday night. They have refused comment in the past because of a court gag order.

Dorothy Anzaldi, who still lives in San Diego, has made several requests to visit the daughter she remembers as a chubby toddler learning to walk. Family Department lawyers have said social workers and a family court judge would decide whether it was in Crystal’s best interest to meet with her parents while the question of custody remains unresolved.