A few hours after Roger Elijah Robinson stepped out of the H block of the Prince George's County jail on Tuesday, a free man in part because his wife refused to testify against him, he returned to their Oxon Hill apartment and allegedly stabbed and slashed her to death in a violent, jealous rage.

Robinson, 46, a landscaper with a 30-year criminal record that includes convictions for armed robbery and assault, did promise the detectives one thing: They would never take him alive.

But late yesterday afternoon, after Police Chief John S. Farrell issued a dramatic, televised warning and pleaded for information about Robinson's whereabouts, someone called police with a tip. A half-hour later, about 4:30 p.m., officers surrounded Robinson at a pay phone outside a convenience store in Northwest Washington and arrested him without incident.