A Glen Burnie woman and a man she is accused of hiring to kill her estranged husband for $1,000 to $2,000 were behind bars yesterday after a witness' tip to police thwarted the alleged murder plot, Baltimore County police said.

The tip came two days after an attempt on the life of the husband - Rocco J. Battaglia of Arbutus - went awry. He was confronted in what was supposed to be staged to look like a robbery, but the assailant ran off after his shotgun misfired, police said.

Cecilia Marie Battaglia, 45, of the 200 block of Shana Road was charged with attempted murder in the alleged plan that targeted Battaglia, 46, of the first block of Colony Hill Court in Arbutus, said county police spokesman Bill Toohey.

Toohey said Julius Lynn Jackson, 29, of the 300 block of S. Norris St. in Baltimore is accused of being her accomplice. He was charged with attempted murder, assault and robbery, Toohey said. Both were denied bail.

Toohey said he did not know how long the Battaglias had been separated, or the reason that Cecilia Battaglia apparently wanted her estranged husband dead.

"Obviously, their relations were not good," he said.

Toohey said the alleged plot came to the attention of investigators Thanksgiving, when a witness approached Maryland State Police with information about a woman who wanted her husband killed by a hired gunman - the kind of tip that in other cases has led to undercover officers posing as killers for hire to thwart murder plots.

But the witness, whom Toohey declined to identify, told police that an attempt had been made on Battaglia's life Tuesday, two days earlier.

The witness said that it was supposed to have been staged to look like a robbery, but that the attempt to kill Battaglia went awry.

State police learned through Baltimore County police that Battaglia had been the victim of a robbery attempt early Tuesday. He was confronted at his Colony Hill Apartments residence and forced at gunpoint to walk to the railroad tracks behind the complex, Toohey said.

But Battaglia was able to fight his attacker and take his weapon - a shotgun that had misfired - before the assailant ran off, Toohey said.

After receiving the tip from the witness, county investigators arranged and listened in on a telephone call between the witness and Cecilia Battaglia.

Toohey said the woman admitted to the witness that she had hired a man whom she knew as "Jay" to kill her husband for $1,000 to $2,000.

After her arrest Friday, Cecilia Battaglia furnished detectives with enough information that they were able to find Jackson, and he was arrested Saturday, Toohey said.

Toohey said there is no indication that Cecilia Battaglia and Jackson knew each other before the alleged murder plot. "I don't know how she connected up with him," Toohey said.

Both suspects were being held in county detention facilities in Towson, pending a review hearing today before a county judge.