Although she posed as the child's mother for seven years, a woman said Friday that she had nothing to do with the kidnapping of the girl from her parents' home as a toddler.
Nilza Gierbolini Guzman didn't say how 8-year-old Crystal Leann Anzaldi came into her care or why she left the United States to raise her in Puerto Rico. She said those matters were part of the ongoing investigation."I had nothing to do with the kidnapping," she said after testifying before a federal grand jury looking into the case. "I am here to find out for myself what happened."
One of Gierbolini's attorneys, Jose Sanchez, said his client was not the target of the investigation, but authorities "have not ruled out anyone yet."
Authorities discovered the girl in November after Gierbolini's estranged husband accused her of abusing the child. Investigators found the girl's birth certificate was fake.
DNA tests later proved the girl was the daughter of Jeffrey and Dorothy Anzaldi, who were living near the Coronado Naval Base in San Diego when their toddler disappeared in 1990.