What was meant to be a long-planned birthday trip for two lifelong friends turned heartbreaking after a woman was allegedly pushed down a staircase outside a South Carolina beach bar and later died from her injuries.
Mary Lopez Hunt, 68, faces charges of voluntary manslaughter and assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, according to court records from Colleton County.
Ruth Peterson shared the devastating account with News Outlet 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, stayed behind to pay the bill at Coot’s Bar & Grill on Edisto Island. It was around 11 p.m. on Oct. 3, 2025.
Ruth Peterson, right, and Joyce Tomlinson, left, had been best friends since childhood and raised their families alongside one another, Peterson told News Outlet. (Courtesy of Ruth Peterson)
When Peterson heard Tomlinson’s voice, she turned around from the bottom of the staircase and looked toward the top, she recalled.
There, she saw Tomlinson — whom she described as quiet and kind — briefly speaking with another woman standing behind her. Peterson said she could not make out their conversation.
“The next thing I know, Joyce had turned around to head back down [the stairs], and this woman runs at her, and with both hands just pushes her, and she just sailed,” Peterson said through tears.
“She didn’t fall down the steps. She didn’t roll down the steps … She didn’t touch the steps.”
“She went head first and landed on this concrete slab.”
Peterson said she ran to Tomlinson and could not detect a pulse. Blood was coming from Tomlinson’s mouth and ears, she said.
“I knew it was bad.”
According to records, Hunt told investigators that Tomlinson had been disruptive and shouted at bartenders before staff asked her to leave. Hunt claimed Tomlinson fell down the stairs.
Mary Lopez Hunt is charged with voluntary manslaughter in connection with the alleged push that sent Joyce Tomlinson down the stairs outside Coot’s Bar & Grill in Edisto Beach, South Carolina, on Oct. 3, 2025. (Colleton County Sheriff’s Office)
Deputies responding to the scene found Tomlinson on the pavement at the foot of the stairs, according to a report that was heavily redacted.
She was airlifted to a hospital, where she died slightly more than three weeks later.
‘Itty-bitty, tiny woman’
Peterson remembered Tomlinson as an “itty-bitty, tiny” woman with a “meek and mild” nature. She said it was impossible for her to imagine that Tomlinson, who worked as a legal aide helping people address financial problems, would have provoked a fight.
KEEP READING: Nobu Malibu Chef Killed After Teen Driver Hits Parked Car on PCH
The women had shared a friendship spanning five decades, Peterson said.
They met as children in Minnesota and spent their youth roller-skating together. Later, after marrying and having children, their families remained close, with their kids growing up side by side. Even when life took them to different places, the friendship endured.
For years, they talked about finally celebrating their 60th birthdays together. But, Peterson said, “life got in the way.”
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 Outlet. (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 Outlet reached out to Coot’s Bar & Grill for comment. Hunt’s attorney could not be reached.
