Ex-Convict Allegedly Found With Missing New Jersey Woman's Jeep After Fire Ravages Mansion They Shared Has Contentious Court Hearing

It was a contentious detention hearing Monday for 49-year-old Ronald Teschner in Monmouth Superior Court – the convicted felon who was allegedly staying at 6,000-square-foot Ocean Township home on Wickapecko Drive when a fire broke out.

Since the fire destroyed the McMansion he and four others were living in a week and a half ago, his self-described on-again-off-again girlfriend, 65-year-old Jacqueline Terrulli, has been missing.

Teschner was arrested 18 hours after the fire broke out by Paterson Police in Terrulli’s Jeep and was allegedly found in illegal possession of two shotguns. He was charged with two counts of unlawful possession of a weapon, two counts of certain persons not to possess weapons and three counts of receiving stolen property.

During Monday’s hearing it was revealed he allegedly assaulted a Paterson cop at the time of his arrest, although Teschner say he was unaware that he was charged with such a crime.

Teschner has a  criminal record going back 30 years. He served an 11-year prison term and has been undergoing drug and alcohol treatment, according to his lawyer.

However, it was a dropped sex assault charge against him that set Teschner off again in court when it was mentioned by the prosecutor.

In the end, the state argued for detention until trial, which was ultimately granted by the judge.

Teschner has not been charged with Terrulli's disappearance. Currently, authorities have no idea where Terrulli is or her condition.

Circumstances leading up to the apparent mysterious disappearance of Jacquelyn Terrulli started in August when she decided to help out Teschner -- an old family friend -- and let him stay at her rented New Jersey home where she lived with her family. On Sept. 12, her home burned down and Teschner was arrested the next day with Terrulli's Jeep — but she was nowhere to be found.

Terrulli's family is now desperately searching for the woman. Jennifer Terrulli feared that her aunt and Teschner died in the fire but no bodies were found in the rubble where Turrulli lived with her mother, brother, sister and 49-year-old Teschner.

"[Teschner] had issues and he came to [Jacquelyn], knowing that she had such a big heart and asked her if could he stay here. She felt sorry for him, not knowing that this would happen and now she’s missing," her niece previously told News 4.

However, Teschner, a convicted felon, was later found on Sept. 13 with Terrulli's 2019 Jeep Cherokee and shotguns inside the vehicle, according to Monmouth County prosecutors. Some of Jacquelyn's jewelry were also discovered. His current charges stem from these possessions. 

Last week, dozens of law enforcement officials searched 2.3 acres of land that surrounded the burned residence for traces of the missing woman.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, prosecutors said.