[chris]

Concord police found two people shot to death inside the Sun Drop Bottling Company on the morning of June 13, 2008, in a robbery that would go unsolved for nearly 18 years. Officers were sent to the plant on Old Salisbury-Concord Road around 10 a.m. after a 911 call reported a shooting inside, and found Donna Barnhardt, 59, the company's longtime office manager, and Darrell Noles, 44, who had come to the plant to apply for a job. Both died at the scene.

Investigators determined that a gunman walked into the front office, shot the two, took money and left on foot, according to the Concord Police Department. Witnesses reported seeing a slim man, roughly 5 feet 7 to 6 feet tall and 170 to 180 pounds, wearing a white shirt and blue jeans, leaving in the direction of Cabarrus Avenue. A composite sketch based on those descriptions was released in September 2008.

The killings became known locally as the Sun Drop Murders. Detectives fielded hundreds of tips over the years, but the case went cold and no one was charged.

The break came in late 2025. Police said a fresh review of the evidence and follow-up on leads that had never been fully developed pointed them to a suspect, Johnny Steven Talbert, then 43, of Port Angeles, Washington. Concord detectives traveled to Washington state on May 18, 2026, to investigate him further.

Talbert was arrested three days later, on May 21, 2026, about 3,000 miles from the crime scene. He was taken into custody without incident and charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of robbery with a firearm. He was held without bail in the Clallam County Jail while awaiting extradition to North Carolina.

Talbert was well known to police in Port Angeles, where the department said it had logged hundreds of contacts and more than a dozen arrests involving him since 2011. Investigators have not publicly explained what tied him to the 2008 shootings.

In a statement, Barnhardt's family thanked the Concord Police Department for its "dedication, professionalism, and perseverance" and said the arrest brought "long-awaited answers and a measure of peace."

[AllegedlyHere]

Lights out. The sun dropped permanently for the victims.

[kellyhound]