Joyce Tomlinson had traveled from Minnesota to celebrate with a lifelong friend when an evening at an Edisto Island bar turned fatal.
EDISTO BEACH, S.C. — Joyce Tomlinson traveled from Minnesota to South Carolina expecting a birthday reunion with a friend she had known for most of her life. Weeks later, Tomlinson was dead, and a bartender at the restaurant they visited was accused of causing the fatal injuries that ended their long-awaited trip.
Tomlinson, 62, and Ruth Peterson had been friends for about 50 years. They had grown older in different places but remained connected, and the South Carolina visit gave them a chance to celebrate their 62nd birthdays together. Their plans brought them to Coot’s Bar & Grill on Edisto Island on Oct. 3, 2025. The gathering was meant to be part of a familiar kind of reunion — food, drinks and time together — before an encounter near the restaurant’s exit abruptly changed the course of the trip.
Peterson later told reporters that the business had become crowded and the women decided to call it a night. They split up for what should have been only a few minutes. Peterson went to get their vehicle, while Tomlinson stayed at the restaurant to pay. The decision left Peterson outside when she looked back toward the staircase and witnessed what she says was the moment her friend suffered the injuries that eventually killed her.
According to Peterson, Tomlinson was near the top of the stairs and beginning to head down when another woman rushed toward her from behind. Peterson said the woman used both hands to push Tomlinson forcefully. Rather than losing her balance and moving down the stairs one at a time, Tomlinson was sent forward toward the concrete below, Peterson said. Police later identified bartender Mary Lopez Hunt as the woman accused in the confrontation.
Peterson ran toward Tomlinson after the fall. Police and emergency personnel soon arrived to find the Minnesota visitor on the concrete, breathing but unresponsive, according to reporting based on investigative records. Tomlinson’s injuries were severe enough that she was transported by helicopter to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Doctors performed a craniotomy to relieve swelling in her brain, but the medical effort did not restore the birthday trip to anything resembling the visit the friends had planned.
For Peterson, the hospital marked a second shock after seeing the fall. She later described being overwhelmed when she saw the extent of Tomlinson’s condition. The friend she had expected to spend the trip talking and celebrating with was critically ill and unable to respond. Tomlinson survived for a little more than three weeks after the incident before dying from her injuries, according to published reports. Her death left Peterson without the woman who had been part of her life for roughly half a century.
As Tomlinson was treated, investigators were working through accounts that did not agree about how she reached the bottom of the stairs. Hunt told authorities that Tomlinson had behaved belligerently inside the bar and yelled at employees before being told to leave. Hunt’s account was that Tomlinson fell rather than being pushed. That version differs fundamentally from Peterson’s eyewitness statement and has made the exact sequence at the exit a central issue in the criminal case.
Investigators also received a statement from another witness who described an earlier confrontation. According to reports about the police inquiry, the witness said Hunt had been yelling at Tomlinson and later grabbed her by the throat while trying to move her outside. That allegation has not been decided by a jury. It nevertheless gave investigators another account to compare with Peterson’s description and Hunt’s statement while determining whether criminal charges were warranted.
The investigation ultimately resulted in serious charges against Hunt, now 68. Court records cited by news organizations show that she faces voluntary manslaughter as well as assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. Hunt has not been convicted of either charge. South Carolina law provides a prison term ranging from two to 30 years for a manslaughter conviction, underscoring the seriousness of the case while leaving the question of guilt to the courts.
Hunt’s custody status has changed during the prosecution. She was initially allowed release on bond, but WCSC later reported that she violated bond conditions and was returned to the Colleton County Detention Center after the bond was revoked. Public reporting reviewed for this story does not identify the conduct responsible for the violation. The revocation therefore should not be treated as proof of the charges stemming from Tomlinson’s death or as evidence about what happened at Coot’s.
While the prosecution focuses on evidence, intent and criminal responsibility, Peterson’s role in the case is inseparable from her history with Tomlinson. She has spoken publicly not simply as a person who says she witnessed an alleged assault but as someone who had known the victim across decades of adulthood. In interviews, she described Tomlinson as gentle and unlikely to initiate a confrontation, directly challenging Hunt’s account that Tomlinson was acting aggressively toward employees.
Those descriptions of character may explain the depth of Peterson’s disbelief, but the criminal case will turn on evidence of the encounter itself. Prosecutors must establish what Hunt did, whether those actions caused Tomlinson’s fatal injuries and whether the evidence satisfies the elements of the crimes charged. Hunt is entitled to challenge witness testimony and other evidence presented against her. The available public reports have not established that a court has made final findings on those questions.
The prosecution has also drawn attention because voluntary manslaughter is not among the most frequently filed homicide charges in the Lowcountry. WCSC reported that fewer than 100 people had faced voluntary manslaughter charges since 2020 across Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester and Berkeley counties. The station’s review showed that convictions can lead to substantial prison terms. Those regional statistics provide context for the seriousness of the allegation without determining what sentence, if any, would apply to Hunt.
More than a year after Tomlinson walked into the waterfront restaurant with the expectation of continuing a birthday celebration, the consequences of that night remain unresolved in court. Peterson lost the friend she had known for about five decades; Hunt faces charges that could carry years in prison; and prosecutors must still establish their case through the judicial process rather than through competing public accounts of the confrontation.
As of the latest reliable reporting reviewed for this article, Hunt remained accused in Tomlinson’s death after her bond was revoked. No final judgment in the criminal case had been reported. What began as a birthday visit between two longtime friends therefore remains unfinished in another sense, with a South Carolina court still responsible for deciding whether the evidence proves the allegations against Hunt.
Author note: Last updated Nov. 9, 2026.