Prosecutor: Area Man Convicted in Family Friend’s 2019 Murder

A Monmouth County Jury has returned guilty verdicts on nearly all charges against the area man who in 2019 was charged with murdering a longtime family friend and setting her home on fire in an attempt to cover his tracks, Acting Monmouth County First Assistant Prosecutor Michael J. Wojciechowski announced on Wednesday.

Following a month-long trial before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Joseph W. Oxley, 52-year-old Ronald J. Teschner was convicted of: first-degree murder, first-degree felony murder, first-degree robbery, three first-degree weapons offenses, second-degree aggravated arson, second-degree desecration of human remains, third-degree aggravated assault, third-degree burglary, third-degree robbery, three counts of third-degree theft, a third-degree drug offense, and fourth-degree resisting arrest, all in connection with the death of 65-year-old Jacqueline C. Terrulli, of Ocean Township.

Shortly after 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019, firefighters and other first responders arrived at a home on Wickapecko Drive in Ocean Township that was fully engulfed in flames.

Once the fire was put out, a joint investigation by members of the Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Bureau, the Monmouth County Fire Marshal’s Office, and the Ocean Township Police Department determined that two residents of the home were unaccounted for: Teschner and Terrulli, the homeowner. Terrulli’s vehicle, a white Jeep Cherokee, was also missing from the property.

The next morning, Ocean Township police found the Cherokee parked on a residential street in Paterson, a little more than an hour’s drive north. Teschner was found in the driver’s seat, and recovered from the vehicle were two shotguns, a quantity of fentanyl, and jewelry and other items belonging to Terrulli.

Teschner was held in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution (MCCI) following his arrest, and murder charges were filed against him in December of 2019. A Monmouth County Grand Jury then returned a 16-count indictment in the case in February of 2020.

Later that year, on Thursday, June 18, 2020, as demolition and site remediation work was being performed on the Wickapecko Drive property, human remains, that would later be identified as belonging to Terrulli, were found wrapped in plastic and buried several feet underground. As a result of the fire, charred rubble had collapsed on and covered the remains, initially concealing them.

Teschner’s prosecution was handled by Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutors Joseph Cummings and Katherine Butler, who presented evidence at trial including witness testimony, cell-phone records, and physical evidence showing that the murder took place while Terrulli’s mother and two siblings were away in Atlantic City.

Sentencing in the case has been scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, at which time Teschner will face a term of up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

— Edited press release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office