Friends remember ‘stand-up’ Myrtle Beach area bar owner whose death remains a mystery
Three weeks after the death of Martin Mullin, little is known about what happened the night he died.
Mullin was the owner of popular bar Murphy’s Law, which has three locations in the Myrtle Beach area.
Officials have said very little about what happened the night of May 14.
Myrtle Beach police were called about 9:30 p.m. to the Howard Avenue apartment for a reported burglary. Police determined that Mullin had entered the wrong apartment, where a fight broke out between him and the men living there. He was rendered medical aid but did not survive.
Officials have not stated the cause of Mullin’s death. Mullin’s autopsy report will not be available for a while, according to Horry County Coroner Robert Edge.
Police have not made any arrests in connection to Mullin’s death.
The police investigation is ongoing and more detail will be released in the future, said Cpl. Tom Vest, with the Myrtle Beach Police Department.
Mourning the loss of a key figure
The Myrtle Beach area continues to mourn the loss of a key figure in the local entertainment scene.
Brad Costigan met Mullin, who friends called “Marty,” in the early ‘90s when he was stationed at now-defunct Myrtle Beach Air Force Base.
Costigan got to know Mullin after becoming a regular at Murphy’s Law, which “was pretty much the best sports bar around,” he said.
Back in those days, Costigan and Mullin bonded over their love of sports and “just raising hell and having fun and not hurting anybody,” Costigan said.
“We’d just drink and bounce around all the bars and see what games are on,” he said.
“He and I just clicked. We were both into sports, because he’s a die-hard Pittsburgh fan and I’m a die-hard New England fan, so there was plenty of trash-talking but that’s what good friends do.”
After Costigan moved back to his home state of Maine, he kept in touch with Mullin and regularly visited his longtime friend in Myrtle Beach.
Costigan remembers Mullin as a generous family man, whose wife and kids “were the love of his life” and who had no problem picking up the bar tab for his friends.
“His No. 1 priority was the family,” Costigan said. “I love him like a brother.”
Christopher Ware, bartender at Crepe Creation Cafe in The Market Common, said he met Mullin through mutual friends who all enjoyed hanging out at Murphy’s Law. Mullin and his wife, Suzanne, were regulars where Ware works.
Ware said he and Mullin got along and saw eye-to-eye on business and politics.
“He was a bar owner for 30-plus years and I’ve been running bars for almost 20 years. So we had a lot in common,” Ware said.
He called Mullin a “brilliant” businessman and an inspiration in his line of work.
“He had a really nice liquor selection” and would invite Ware over to test out new cocktails.
Mullin was a “go-to guy with a lot of advice, a little bit of inspiration” who helped Ware through some of the issues he faced as a bartender.
“He was an honorable man,” Ware said. “A stand-up guy.”
This story was originally published June 4, 2021 at 5:54 PM.
