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An Illinois man accused of kidnapping his ex-girlfriend at gunpoint after ramming her car at a West Side intersection had been arrested two days earlier for battering the same woman at an Albuquerque hotel, according to court records.

Police in several states continued to search today for Landis Wheeler, 26, who Albuquerque police say followed ex-girlfriend Kendra Montoya from Illinois to Albuquerque earlier this month.

Montoya, meanwhile, was safe with her family after escaping from Wheeler outside a Colorado hotel late Saturday night.

Wheeler was arrested and charged with battery on a household member Feb. 15 at a Guesthouse Inn and Suites on Hotel Circle Northeast in Albuquerque. He was also issued a restraining order prohibiting him from having contact with Montoya, Albuquerque Police spokeswoman Trish Hoffman said.

Two days later, Wheeler posted a $3,000 bond and was released from the Metropolitan Detention Center, according to court records.

Within hours, police say Wheeler tracked down Montoya and crashed his blue Hyundai station wagon into her vehicle at the intersection of Coors Boulevard and Alameda Drive Northwest.

Wheeler pulled Montoya from her car at gunpoint, pointed the gun at several bystanders and forced Montoya into his station wagon, Hoffman said.

By the time he reached a Best Western in Trinidad, Colo., Wheeler had beaten Montoya so severely he apparently thought she was unconscious and left her in the car to check in, Hoffman said.

She wasn't, and she managed to escape the car and call police, Hoffman said. Wheeler had fled by the time police arrived.

Wheeler is described as having shoulder-length blond or brown hair and was last seen wearing a red T-shirt and jeans. He is considered armed and dangerous, but police say they don't know whether he would have come back to Albuquerque, gone home to Illinois or fled somewhere else.

"We don't really know what his deal was," Hoffman said. "Apparently the two of them were planning to get married at one point and had broken up."

An arrest warrant was issued Sunday charging Wheeler with aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and false imprisonment.