The fourth person charged in the 2020 murder of Joshua Ramos in Potter County has waived a preliminary hearing in his case.
Varley Fuller, 65, of Mansfield, waived a hearing before District Judge Christopher Kalacinski on charges of murder in the first, second and third degrees, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, kidnapping to inflict terror or injury and tampering with evidence. He remains held without bail in Potter County jail.
District Attorney Andy Watson told The Era in January that he was “uncertain at this time” whether he would pursue the death penalty against Fuller. While the death penalty was sought against the three other defendants — Krysten Crosby, Felicia Cary and Kyle Moore — it was dropped in consideration of their pleas to charges in their individual cases.
Fuller’s appointed counsel, Peter C. Lovecchio, a Lycoming County assistant public defender, does not appear to be certified as death penalty counsel, as is required in Pennsylvania.
Fuller was arrested on Jan. 10 in Hornell, N.Y. He is the man who came forward and reported Ramos’ torture and murder to police in July 2020, four months after it happened, according to court records.
Fuller had lived at a Galeton home with Ramos, 19, and Cary and Crosby, both defendants, and several others. Moore was at the house when the incident began on March 29, 2020.
Fuller went to the Coudersport-based state police barracks on July 5, 2020, to report he had information on the homicide of Ramos.
He told police that Cary, Crosby and Moore had beaten Ramos, and then taken him outside to a van, which Fuller drove. The aggressors planned to take Ramos to a remote part of Potter County and leave him there, Fuller said. They tried a location in Stewardson Township, but were unsuccessful. They went to a remote location in Harrison Township and took Ramos into the woods, with Crosby returning to the van to get a set of jumper cables, which she took back into the woods, according to the criminal complaint.
About an hour and a half later, Cary, Crosby and Moore “strolled out of the thicket” without Ramos and got back in the van, and started the return trip to Galeton.
During the drive, Fuller said, he heard the three “bragging about their actions,” and saying that “Ramos was tough and just wouldn’t die,” the complaint stated. Fuller took investigators to the scene where with the help of a K-9, Ramos’ remains were recovered, the criminal complaint stated. After this, Fuller sold his van for scrap to a facility in Troupsburg, N.Y.
Fuller is the fourth person charged in connection with the kidnapping, torture and murder of Ramos.
The others were Krysten Crosby, 25, of Tioga, who was sentenced to 31 to 62 years in prison; Felicia Cary, 38, of Galeton, was sentenced to 30 to 60 years; and Kyle Moore, 31, of Galeton, was sentenced to 22 to 44 years.
