A long-planned birthday trip for two lifelong friends turned heartbreaking when a woman was allegedly pushed down a staircase outside a South Carolina beach bar, suffering injuries that later proved fatal.
Court records from Colleton County show that bartender Mary Lopez Hunt, 68, faces charges of voluntary manslaughter and assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature.
Ruth Peterson described the devastating night to News Media 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, went to pay their bill at Coot’s Bar & Grill on Edisto Island around 11 p.m. on Oct. 3, 2025.
Ruth Peterson, right, told News Media that she and her childhood best friend Joyce Tomlinson, left, raised their families together and remained close for decades. (Courtesy of Ruth Peterson)
When Peterson heard Tomlinson’s voice, she turned around from the bottom of the stairs and looked toward the entrance.
She said Tomlinson, whom she remembered as gentle and reserved, appeared to exchange a few words with a woman standing behind her at the top of the stairs. Peterson could not make out the conversation.
Peterson said Tomlinson had begun turning to walk back down when the other woman suddenly charged toward her and shoved her with both hands. The impact sent Tomlinson flying, Peterson recalled through tears.
“She didn’t tumble or roll down the stairs,” Peterson said. “She never touched the steps.”
Instead, Peterson said, Tomlinson fell headfirst onto a concrete landing.
Peterson immediately ran to her friend. She said she could not find a pulse and saw blood coming from Tomlinson’s mouth and ears.
“I knew it was bad,” she said.
According to court records, Hunt gave authorities a different account. She said Tomlinson had been acting belligerently and shouting at bartenders before employees asked her to leave. Hunt maintained that Tomlinson fell down the stairs.
Mary Lopez Hunt faces a voluntary manslaughter charge in connection with the alleged Oct. 3, 2025, push that sent Joyce Tomlinson down the stairs outside Coot’s Bar & Grill in Edisto Beach, South Carolina. (Colleton County Sheriff’s Office)
Deputies responding to the scene found Tomlinson on the pavement at the foot of the stairs, according to a police report that has been extensively redacted.
Emergency crews airlifted Tomlinson to a hospital. She died just over three weeks after the fall.
‘Itty-bitty, tiny woman’
Peterson described Tomlinson as an “itty-bitty, tiny” woman with a quiet, mild-mannered nature. She said it was difficult to imagine Tomlinson, who worked as a legal aide helping people address financial problems, provoking a physical confrontation.
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The two women had been inseparable friends for roughly half a century, Peterson said.
They met as children in Minnesota and spent their early years roller-skating together. Later, after marrying and raising families, they watched their children grow up alongside one another. Even after life took them to different places, their friendship endured.
For years, they had talked about taking a trip to celebrate turning 60 together. But, Peterson said, other responsibilities kept postponing those plans until the getaway that ended in tragedy.
Then in 2025, Tomlinson called and said she was coming to visit in October so they could celebrate their birthdays together, Peterson remembered.
When they checked into their rented condo in Edisto Beach, South Carolina, an employee recommended Coot’s Bar & Grill, she said.
Edisto Island (seen here) is one of South Carolina’s several Sea Islands. (Getty Images)
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.
Joyce Tomlinson, left, and Ruth Peterson, right, enjoyed raising their families together, Peterson told News Media. (Courtesy of Ruth Peterson)
‘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.
News Media reached out to Coot’s Bar & Grill for comment. Hunt’s attorney could not be reached.