Girl Abducted in ’90 Found in Puerto Rico

SAN DIEGO —  One of the most mysterious kidnappings in the city’s history has apparently been solved by officials in Puerto Rico, who say a child abducted seven years ago from a Navy family in San Diego has been found after being identified by her distinctive smile and a tiny birthmark.

Crystal Leann Anzaldi, who was 14 months old when she disappeared on Dec. 8, 1990, is in a foster home in San Juan while officials decide whether she should go to her mother or her father. The couple divorced after the kidnapping.

The woman who claimed to be the child’s mother, Nilza Gierbolini Guzman, 35, is under arrest. The case began to unravel when Guzman was being investigated for allegedly abusing Crystal.

William Gore, special agent in charge of the San Diego office of the FBI, said DNA tests proved that Crystal is not related to Guzman but is the daughter of Dorothy and Jeffrey Anzaldi.

Anzaldi was a radioman at a naval base in Coronado when Crystal was abducted. Guzman was married to a sailor stationed in San Diego at the same time, but it is not known whether she knew the Anzaldi family.

Police became suspicious of Guzman when the child’s birth certificate turned out to be fake, said Anibal Torres, director of special investigations for the Puerto Rican Justice Department.

Puerto Rican and federal investigators compared a recent picture of Crystal with more than 500 photos on the Internet site of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, before they turned up a match. The posting referred to a tiny birthmark just to the left of her nose, he said.

“It was a really striking thing,” Torres said Monday. “This baby’s smile was so similar to this 8-year-old child. But it was the birthmark that really clinched it.”

When confronted with the DNA evidence, Gierbolini admitted the child was not hers, Torres said. She was charged in October with falsifying documents and still could face kidnapping charges, he said.

Charles Pickett, who managed the Anzaldi case at the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said it was “very rare” for a kidnapped child to be found after so many years.

“It makes you feel good,” he said in a telephone interview.

The child’s parents, now divorced, could not be reached for comment Monday. Crystal’s mother, Dorothy, lives in Redding, Calif., he said, while her father lives in Banks, Ore., with the girl’s 10-year-old sister, Kendra.

“I’m sure she’d like to see her sister,” Torres said of Crystal. “They look remarkably alike.”

Crystal was taken while her parents were asleep in an apartment in the Golden Hill section of San Diego. She was wearing only a diaper when last seen.

The kidnapping provoked an extensive hunt both in San Diego and in Mexico.

Jeffrey Anzaldi initially told police he felt his daughter must have been taken by someone with a grudge against the family. Unable to provide any further clues, he underwent hypnosis.

A local anti-crime group offered $1,000 for information. Television stations played a video reenactment of the kidnapping, hoping to generate tips.

At the time of the abduction, the Anzaldis, married only a year, were having financial problems and had moved into an apartment of a woman who was in jail. In exchange for free rent, the Anzaldis agreed to take care of the woman’s three children.

As many as seven adults may have been living in the apartment at the time of the kidnapping.

Police were never able to determine if the doors to the apartment had been locked while the Anzaldis were sleeping.

Times staff writer Tony Perry in San Diego and Associated Press contributed to this story.