A long-awaited getaway for two best friends celebrating birthdays together ended in tragedy when a bartender allegedly shoved a woman down stairs, leaving her fatally injured outside a South Carolina beachside bar.
uncertain
bartender → await → bar
Mary Lopez Hunt, 68, has been charged with voluntary manslaughter and assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, according to Colleton County court records.
uncertain
Hunt → charge → records
Ruth Peterson recalled the painful memory to Fox News Digital on Oct. 1, 2026, just two days before the one-year mark of her friend’s death.
asserted
Peterson → recall → death
Peterson had just left to get their car, as her friend, 62-year-old Minnesota resident Joyce Tomlinson, went to settle their tab at Coot’s Bar & Grill on Edisto Island at about 11 p.m. on Oct. 3, 2025.
asserted
friend → leave → Oct.
Hearing her friend’s voice, Peterson turned at the bottom of the stairs and looked up, she said.
asserted
she → hear → stairs
At the top of the stairs, she saw Tomlinson — a woman she described as meek and friendly — exchange words briefly with another woman behind her.
asserted
she → see → her
She couldn’t hear what was said.
asserted
what → hear → ?
"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, stifling tears.
asserted
Peterson → know → tears
"She didn't fall down the steps.
asserted
She → fall → steps
She didn't roll down the steps…
asserted
She → roll → steps
She didn't touch the steps."
asserted
She → touch → steps
"She went head first and landed on this concrete slab.
asserted
She → go → slab
Peterson rushed to her friend and couldn’t find a pulse, she said.
asserted
she → rush → pulse
Tomlinson began bleeding from her mouth and ears, she said.
asserted
she → begin → mouth
"I knew it was bad."
asserted
it → know → ?
Hunt told authorities that Tomlinson was belligerent and yelled at bartenders before she was asked to leave, records show.
asserted
records → tell → bartenders
She alleges that Tomlinson fell down the stairs.
asserted
Tomlinson → allege → stairs
Authorities arrived at the bar and found Tomlinson lying on the pavement at the bottom of the stairs, according to a heavily redacted report.
uncertain
Tomlinson → arrive → report
Tomlinson was flown to a hospital by helicopter and she died a little more than three weeks later.
asserted
she → fly → helicopter
‘Itty-bitty, tiny woman’
Tomlinson was an "itty-bitty, tiny" woman with a "meek and mild" personality, Peterson said.
asserted
Peterson → say → personality
She can’t believe the legal aide who helped people resolve financial issues would start a fight, she said.
asserted
she → believe → fight
Tomlinson and Peterson had been friends for 50 years, Peterson said.
asserted
Peterson → say → years
As young girls in Minnesota, they loved to roller skate together.
asserted
they → love → Minnesota
And as they grew older and started families of their own, their children grew up playing together, too.
asserted
children → grow → own
Eventually, they moved away from each other but remained close friends.
asserted
they → move → other
For years, they’d discussed meeting to celebrate their 60th birthdays together.
asserted
they → discuss → birthdays
But "life got in the way," Peterson said.
asserted
Peterson → get → way
Then in 2025, Tomlinson called and said she was coming to visit in October so they could celebrate their birthdays together, Peterson remembered.
uncertain
Peterson → call → birthdays
When they checked into their rented condo in Edisto Beach, South Carolina, an employee recommended Coot’s Bar & Grill, she said.
asserted
she → check → Bar
They sat at the bar and each had two drinks, Peterson said.
asserted
Peterson → sit → drinks
When a solo performer began playing music, the two women stood up and danced.
asserted
women → begin → music
Then the bar became crowded, so they decided to leave and catch up at the condo, Peterson said.
asserted
Peterson → become → condo
Tomlinson went to pay the bill.
asserted
Tomlinson → go → bill
Peterson went for the car.
asserted
Peterson → go → car
"I left the bar and walked down the steps, the same steps that we came up [to go] in.
asserted
we → leave → that
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.
asserted
her → turn → steps
They never spoke again.
asserted
They → speak → ?
Tomlinson’s friends and family still are trying to piece together how the fight could turned violent so quickly, Peterson said.
uncertain
Peterson → try → ?
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.
asserted
Peterson → remember → funeral
She wasn’t married but did leave behind a son.
asserted
She → leave → son
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
