Family members of a missing Monmouth County woman say that they fear something bad happened to her prior to her home being set on fire.

Jacquelin Terrulli, 65, has not been seen since the fire at her home on Wickapecko Drive in Ocean Township on Sept. 12. She lived in the home with her mother, brother and sister, Briten Alston.

"I spoke to my sister Wednesday night around 10 p.m. She says, ‘Goodnight, I'll see you in the morning,’ and my I got a phone call Thursday morning that the house was on fire,” Alston says.

There was one other person living in the home – 49-year-old Ron Teschner – a family friend who was down on his luck. Terrulli’s family says that she allowed Teschner to stay in the house temporarily and gave him work at one of her businesses.

But the family also says that Terrulli was trying to get Teschner to move out.

“He wasn't getting out. He kept crying to her to make her feel bad so he could stay there,” says niece Jennifer Terrulli.

Police found Teschner a day after the fire. They say that he was inside Terrulli’s Jeep Cherokee in Paterson. He had shotguns and some of Terrulli’s jewelry, according to police.

The family alleges that Teschner did something to harm Terrulli.

“Absolutely, he was driving her car and he had her jewelry in the car,” Alston says.

Teschner was charged with weapons offenses and receiving stolen property.

But the family says that they still want to know where their loved one is, and how the house fire started.

“She doesn't deserve this. Nobody does, especially her. She's the first to help anybody,” says Jennifer Terrulli.

Four of the family’s pets died in the fire. The cause is under investigation.

Police are asking anyone who may have information about Terrulli’s whereabouts to call Detective Wayne Raynor of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office at 1-800-533-7443 or Detective Darius Davis of the Asbury Park Police Department at 732-774-1300.