Sun Drop murder suspect arrested 14 times out west after NC killings, police say
The suspect in the killings of two people at the old Sun Drop Bottling Co. plant in Concord in 2008 was arrested on the West Coast at least 14 times since the slayings, police in Port Angeles, Washington, said Wednesday.
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Late Monday, Concord police announced they had obtained an arrest warrant on Thursday, May 21, for 43-year-old Johnny Steven Talbert of Port Angeles. He was arrested that day by local police and taken into custody without incident.
Talbert is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of armed robbery in connection with the killings of 59-year-old Donna Barnhardt and 44-year-old Darrell Noles.
Barnhardt was the longtime office manager at the more than century-old, family-run plant. Noles was applying for a job.
Talbert remained in the Clallam County Jail in Washington without bail on a fugitive charge Wednesday, Chief Corrections Deputy Don Wenzl told The Charlotte Observer.
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Talbert’s arrests in Port Angeles occurred since November 2011 and included two felonies, police said in press release.
“A check of PAPD records showed approximately 288 contacts with Talbert since the first police contact in Port Angeles in November of 2011,” according to the statement by the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team. The multi-agency team investigates drug and other violent crimes in Clallam and Jefferson (Wash.) counties.
Police arrested Talbert in the 2300 block of West 18th Street in Port Angeles on May 21, according to the statement.
The Clallam County prosecuting attorney’s office asked N.C. Gov. Josh Stein’s office to begin work to extradite Talbert, Wenzl said.
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Talbert is scheduled to appear in Clallam County Court June 12.
