South Carolina birthday girls’ trip allegedly turns deadly at the hands of bartender, friend says

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.

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.

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.