The suspect in a double murder at a beverage distribution plant in North Carolina that haunted a community for nearly two decades has been arrested about 3,000 miles from where the killings took place, according to police.
Johnny Steven Talbert, 43, of Port Angeles, Wash., was arrested by local police on Thursday, May 21, in connection with the June 2008 killings of Donna Barnhardt and Darrell Noles at the Sun Drop Bottling Company in Concord, N.C., which became known as the "Sun Drop Murders," police said.
Talbert will be charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of robbery with a firearm or other dangerous weapon when he is extradited to North Carolina, per police.At approximately 10 a.m. on June 13, 2008, Concord police officers responded to a report of a shooting inside the bottling plant, police said in a news release announcing Talbert's arrest.
Responding officers found Barnhardt and Noles with gunshot wounds. They were pronounced dead at the scene.
Barnhardt, 59, was the company's office manager for nearly two decades, while Noles, 44, was at the plant to apply for a job, police said.https://people.com/north-carolina-su...ested-11983806A composite sketch of a possible suspect was released in September 2008 from physical descriptions provided by witnesses who said they saw a man leaving the scene, the release states.
"Through a meticulous reexamination of evidence and the pursuit of previously undeveloped leads, detectives uncovered critical information that ultimately led to Talbert's arrest," police said, per the release.
On Dec. 19, 2025, Concord police detectives contacted the Port Angeles Police Department about Talbert and on May 18, 2026, traveled to Washington. Talbert was arrested three days later.
Reply With Quote