4-year-old child abducted from Santa Monica restaurant found safely at nearby motel with kidnapper

A four-year-old girl who was kidnapped from a Santa Monica restaurant was found safely hours later she was taken on Friday. 

Police were called to the Panda Express located in the 1900 block of Lincoln Boulevard a little after 12:10 p.m. after receiving a "frantic call for help from a grandmother" after the girl went missing, according to a statement from the Santa Monica Police Department. 

Officers arrived to the scene and gathered video images of who they believed kidnapped the girl, which they sent to additional units also heading to the restaurant. 

More than 30 officers flooded the area to search for the suspect, who they described as a heavyset woman in her 40s. 

The girl was located just about 20 minutes later at the Holiday Motel near 11th Street and Pico Boulevard, police said. 

"Thankfully, the child was unharmed and the suspect was taken into custody," the SMPD statement said. 

While they did not provide much more information on the suspect and her criminal history, police say that she appeared to have been residing at the motel for an "extended period of time."

She was booked on suspicion of kidnapping.