Police in Edmonton are searching for a man after a seven-year-old girl was abducted Sunday and later found unhurt 100 kilometres from the city.

The child was located just after 3 p.m. MT in Evansburg, west of Edmonton.

Police offered few details about the girl's abduction, and there were conflicting accounts of how she was found.

The girl's father told CBC News she escaped while the suspect was filling up at a gas station. The gas attendant apparently recognized the vehicle from an Amber Alert that police issued after the girl was abducted about 11:15 a.m. Sunday, he said.

The father said the man lured the girl into his blue sports utility vehicle by offering to let her see some kittens. At the time, she was playing with her two brothers in a park in northeast Edmonton.

As the attendant moved toward the vehicle, the girl leapt out and ran to him, the father said, adding the suspect drove off with the pump hose still connected to his vehicle.

But there are also reports the little girl showed up at a hotel restaurant in Wildwood, just up the road from Evansburg.

Shari Wilson, who works next to the restaurant, told CBC News Monday that a restaurant employee asked her to help when the child showed up with $10 and a note asking to get her home safely.

"She didn't really act like she was really, really scared. She was just very, very confused," she said.

No arrest has been made.

"While we are very, very happy that [she] has been located, this investigation is far from over," Edmonton police Chief Mike Boyd told reporters.

Police are still looking for a suspect, described as Caucasian, about six feet tall, in his late 20s to early 30s and balding with blond hair.

He was last seen wearing light blue jeans, a black zip-up jacket and silver-rimmed glasses. He might be driving a blue SUV.

Evansburg is near Edson, where last week Emily Stauffer, 14, was killed while out on a nature walk.

No one has been arrested in that case, but Boyd, when asked by reporters, said there was no immediate link between the two incidents.

However, he added, "We are not ruling anything out.

"We are considering that anything is possible, although I don't want in any way to make any connection between the two."

With files from the Canadian Press