LOS ANGELES, Aug 13 (Reuters) - A 4-year-old girl missing from a Los Angeles park since Sunday and feared kidnapped was found Tuesday night unharmed and was reunited with her near frantic parents, officials said.

Mayor James Hahn made the announcement at Echo Park, where Jessica Cortez disappeared, saying to cheers from a crowd of well-wishers, "This turned out to be a great day. Our prayers were answered,"

Police chief Martin Pomeroy said he could not yet fill in the gaps about where Jessica had been for the last two days.

Officials said the barefoot, disheveled girl was discovered at a child care clinic after having been brought there by a woman who was not a relative.

The staff of St. John's Well Child Center, a free clinic, recognized Jessica from the pictures that have been flashing across local TV screens since her disappearance and immediately called police. The girl told staff at the clinic that her name was "Jessica."

Jim Mangia, the clinic's director, said Jessica was brought into the clinic shortly after 5 p.m. PDT (8 p.m. EDT) "by a a woman we did not recognize who was clearly not the girl's mother."

He said the woman was well dressed but the little girl was in tatters -- dirty, barefoot and with her hair cut jaggedly. Mangia said a nurse took the pair into an examining room while other clinic staff called police.

"She was wearing shorts and a T-shirt and we immediately went on the Internet to see if it was the same clothing (Jessica was wearing when she disappeared). It wasn't but we thought it is better to be safe than sorry," Mangia said.

Jessica was taken to the city's Children's Hospital to be examined and be reunited with her parents, who earn their living selling food at the park.

The 30-year-old woman who brought the girl to the clinic was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping but an FBI official cautioned that "We still have a suspect out there."

Earlier in the day, police said they feared that the girl had been abducted, probably by a man with a leg tattoo and a Chihuahua dog, although divers continued searching a nearby lake for her body.

HOUSE-TO-HOUSE SEARCH

Police Chief Pomeroy said that at least four people spotted the man walking in the park with Jessica.

FBI agents had joined about 300 police officers in a house-to-house search on nearby streets and questioned several men who resembled a composite sketch of the suspect.

Her disappearance marked at least the fourth time this year that young children in Southern California have been kidnapped or gone missing.

In February, 7-year-old Danielle van Dam disappeared from her home in San Diego County and her body was found a month later. A jury is deliberating on whether David Westerfield, a 50-year-old neighbor, kidnapped and murdered her.

In late April, 2-year-old Jahi Turner disappeared from a San Diego park and has not been found.

And last month, 5-year-old Samantha Runnion was snatched from outside the condominium complex where she lived in the Orange County community of Stanton. Her body was found the next day. A 27-year-old man has been charged with kidnapping, sexually assaulting and murdering her. Nampa-Reuters 0249 140802 WEB story ENDS (NAMPA 140253)