More than a dozen investigators were out in Deal Lake Thursday in an ongoing effort to find an Ocean Township woman who went missing after her home caught fire.
Searchers walked through the lake hoping to find evidence about what happened to 65-year-old Jacqueline Terrulli. A Monmouth County sheriff’s dog was spotted on a boat crisscrossing the lake.
Terrulli went missing Sept. 12 after a fire badly damaged her home on Wickapecko Drive where she lived with several relatives. Family friend Ronald Teschner was also staying in the home.
Police say that they found Teschner a day after the fire driving Terrulli’s Jeep. He also allegedly had Terrulli’s jewelry and shotguns inside the Jeep. He was arrested and is facing weapons charges, as well as a charge of receiving stolen property.
Family members tell News 12 New Jersey that they suspect Teschner had something to do with Terrulli’s disappearance. They say that she wanted Teschner out of the home.
The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office would not say what led them to search the lake. A spokesperson would only say that it was part of an ongoing investigation.
Teschner remains jailed in Monmouth County.