Man abducted, assaulted his ex-wife and two children, police say

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A man is under arrest, accused of abducting his ex-wife and two children, and then severely assaulting her over several hours.

Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer outlined the horrific incident in a news conference on Friday afternoon.

Dyer says that the whole incident started after the woman posted on social media early Thursday that she was dating someone new.

That incensed her ex-husband, 40-year-old Robert Gonzales, a Bulldog gang member with a long, violent criminal history. Over the next few hours, he called her friends and family to locate the woman.

WATCH: Fresno Police update on abduction of toddler

He eventually tracked her down at 5:30 pm Thursday as she arrived at the FAX bus station at Manchester Center.

She got off the bus with her 11-month-old boy in a stroller, and as the woman walked across the parking lot, Gonzales pulled in front of her and demanded that she get into his car.

Inside his car was the two-year-old girl that the couple shared custody of.

She refused to get in, and that's when Gonzales got out of the car, threw the stroller, with the child still inside, into the back of his car, a stolen, blue Honda Civic.

The child was screaming, and fearing for her baby's life; the mother reluctantly got into the car.

Gonzales spent the next few hours driving around the city. At around 8 pm, he started beating the woman violently with a metal pipe or stake until she lost consciousness.

When the woman regained consciousness, Gonzales beat her again until she passed out, a process he repeated several times.

At one point, Gonzales drove to Kearney Park in Fresno County, and as she clutched her 11-month-old child, he covered both in a blanket and started hitting them.

The child was injured in the beating, although Chief Jerry Dyer says investigators are not sure if that was Gonzales's intention. The woman believes she was unconscious for three hours after the beating.

When she woke, they were at Victoria West Community Park in West Central Fresno, and the two-year-old child was gone.

At that point, Gonzales tied her up, covered her with a blanket, and turned the heat up in the car to full blast. He reportedly told the woman that he wanted to make her feel, how he felt when reading her social media post.

With the car getting very hot and the 11-month-old boy screaming in pain, the woman was able to talk to Gonzales and convince him that she would get back together with him and that she loved him.

At that point, Gonzales briefly let his guard down, giving the woman a moment to escape the car with her 11-month-old boy.

She approached someone at the park, possibly an employee, and asked for help. That person told Gonzales to leave and threatened to call the cops if he didn't go.

Several hours went by until police recieved a 911 call about the incident. They were called out to an apartment on the other end of town, near the airport at around 11 am Friday.

Officers saw that the woman was injured, but she feared Gonzales so much that it took two hours before she revealed the full story.

At that point, she and her 11-month-old child were taken to the hospital for treatment. She had a broken foot, broken hand, two black eyes, and bruises from being hit. The 11-month-old child was also bruised in the face and body.

At the same time, Fresno Police officers began to search for Gonzales and the two-year-old girl.

That led them to a relative's home on West Harvey Avenue, near West Warren Avenue, located behind the "Motel Drive" area of West Central Fresno.

When detectives arrived around 5:30 pm, officers saw the stolen, blue Honda Civic and spotted Gonzales standing outside of the house.

WATCH: Fresno Police update on arrest of Gonzales

Gonzales was arrested without incident in connection with the abduction.

The two-year-old girl was not harmed and is now with family.

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If you, or someone you know, is the victim of domestic violence, there is help available.

The Marjaree Mason Center has a 24-hour crisis hotline (559) 233-HELP (4357) and more resources are available at mmcenter.org