Family Burned Out of Their Home Still Coping With Loss, Fear

The victim of a March arson fire on Brandywine Rise in Green Brook said his family is still feeling the effects of being forced from their home.

The victim said he fears the alleged culprit, now free on bail, was trying to kill him and his family and may be out for revenge, according to NJ.com.

Frank Mercuri's home was rendered uninhabitable—he called the house "a total loss." He estimates the damage is more than a half-million dollars.

The family lost practically everything in the blaze and has been in temporary housing ever since. Mercuri said he expects it will take more than a year before rebuilding can begin. On top of that, his wife had to undergo surgery; she injured her knee while fleeing the fire, the article said.

Arson investigators from the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office are still conducting a probe to determine what caused the house to go up in flames. In the meantime, Mercuri said the family fears reprisal from Owen Harshaney, 22, of Dunellen, who put up 10 percent of his $150,000 bail and was released Aug. 9 from Somerset County Jail. 

Harshaney, an ex-boyfriend of Mercuri's daughter and a former Rutgers-Newark baseball player, was indicted on charges of aggravated arson and attempted murder last month. He allegedly threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend's current boyfriend, the article said, and surveillance video and cell phone records linked him to the crime, authorities said.