A long-planned birthday trip for two longtime friends turned devastating after a woman was allegedly pushed down a staircase outside a beachside bar in South Carolina, suffering injuries that later proved fatal.
Mary Lopez Hunt, 68, faces charges of voluntary manslaughter and assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, according to Colleton County court records.
Ruth Peterson described the night to Fox News Digital on Oct. 1, 2026, two days before the anniversary of her friend’s death.
Peterson said she had stepped away to retrieve their car while her friend, 62-year-old Minnesota resident Joyce Tomlinson, remained behind to pay their bill at Coot’s Bar & Grill on Edisto Island. It was around 11 p.m. on Oct. 3, 2025.
As Peterson reached the bottom of the stairs, she heard Tomlinson’s voice and turned to look back up, she recalled.
At the top of the staircase, Peterson saw Tomlinson — whom she described as quiet and kind — briefly speak with another woman standing behind her. Peterson said she could not make out the exchange.
“All of a sudden, Joyce turned to walk back down, and this woman charged toward her and pushed her with both hands. Joyce just went flying,” Peterson said through tears.
“She didn’t stumble down the stairs. She didn’t roll down them. She didn’t even make contact with the steps,” Peterson said.
Instead, Peterson said, Tomlinson fell headfirst onto a concrete slab.
Peterson ran to her friend and said she could not detect a pulse. Tomlinson was bleeding from her mouth and ears, she recalled.
“I knew it was serious.”
According to court records, Hunt told investigators that Tomlinson had acted belligerently and shouted at bartenders before being asked to leave. Hunt claimed Tomlinson fell down the stairs.
A heavily redacted police report states that officers arrived to find Tomlinson on the pavement at the base of the stairs.
Tomlinson was airlifted to a hospital, where she died slightly more than three weeks later.
DON’T MISS: South Carolina Birthday Trip Turns Deadly; Friend Blames Bartender
‘Itty-bitty, tiny woman’
Peterson remembered Tomlinson as an “itty-bitty, tiny” woman with a “meek and mild” nature. She said it was difficult to imagine that her friend, who worked as a legal aide helping people address financial problems, would have provoked a confrontation.
Peterson said she and Tomlinson had shared a friendship spanning five decades.
The two met as girls in Minnesota and spent their childhood roller-skating together. Later, after marrying and raising families, they watched their children grow up alongside one another. Even after moving to different places, they remained close.
For years, the friends talked about celebrating their 60th birthdays together, but other responsibilities repeatedly got in the way, Peterson said.
That changed in 2025, when Tomlinson called Peterson and said she planned to visit in October so they could finally mark the milestone together.
After checking into a rented condominium in Edisto Beach, South Carolina, the friends followed an employee’s recommendation and headed to Coot’s Bar & Grill, Peterson said.
They sat at the bar and each had two drinks, Peterson said. When a solo performer began playing music, the two women stood up and danced.
Then the bar became crowded, so they decided to leave and catch up at the condo, Peterson said.
Tomlinson went to pay the bill. Peterson went for the car.
“I left the bar and walked down the steps, the same steps that we came up [to go] in. I turned around to see how far behind me she was … and that’s when I saw her standing at the top of the steps.”
Moments later, her friend was unconscious. They never spoke again.
‘Loving mom,’ ‘trustworthy friend’
Tomlinson’s friends and family still are trying to piece together how the fight could turned violent so quickly, Peterson said.
At her funeral, friends and family remembered Tomlinson as “a loving mom” and “a trustworthy friend,” Peterson wrote in a eulogy read at the funeral. She wasn’t married but did leave behind a son.
“It’s just been very surreal,” Peterson said. “It’s very hard to believe that she’s gone and that somebody would do that to another person.”
Hunt was released on $100,000 bond for each of her charges. Later, bond was revoked and she was taken back into custody in the Colleton County Jail in Walterboro, South Carolina. It was not immediately clear why her bond was revoked.
Fox News Digital reached out to Coot’s Bar & Grill for comment. Hunt’s attorney could not be reached.