Cold case arrest made in Port Angeles

Published 11:35 am Monday, May 25, 2026

PORT ANGELES — A man wanted for nearly two decades for a double homicide and robbery with a dangerous weapon in North Carolina has been arrested in Port Angeles on an extraditable warrant.

Johnny Steven Talbert, 43, was arrested Thursday by the Port Angeles Police Department and made his first appearance in Clallam County Superior Court on Friday. He was being held without bail in the Clallam County Jail on Monday.

Judge Elizabeth Stanley signed an order to hold Talbert for 30 days. A status hearing was set for 9 a.m. June 12.

Talbert is the prime suspect in the June 13, 2008, murders of Donna Barnhardt, 59, and Darrell Noles, 44, according to court records. The shootings occurred during a robbery at the Sun Drop bottling plant in Concord, N.C., about 25 miles north of Charlotte.

Barnhardt was the office manager and had worked for the company for 18 years, and Noles was a leader of his church choir who had been recently laid off from a cable company and was applying for a job at the plant, according to published reports.

Investigators believe the shooter spent just a few minutes inside the plant, stole cash from the office, threw it in a box and took off running. Several witnesses saw the man, including Noles’ wife, who had been waiting for Darrell in her car in the parking lot, according to published reports.

A police sketch was released shortly after the shootings. A cash reward was offered and then eventually increased to $85,000. In May 2009, the case was featured on an episode of America’s Most Wanted, but no arrests had been made.

A warrant for Talbert’s arrest was issued Thursday in Cabarrus County, N.C., on two counts of first-degree murder and one count of robbery with a dangerous weapon. Talbert was arrested the same day in Port Angeles as a fugitive from justice from another state.

The warrant states $9,905.42 was taken from the bottling plant during the crime.

The Port Angeles Police Department was contacted on Dec. 19, 2025, by the Concord Police Department, which was investigating the cold case, according to court records.

Det. Sgt. Joshua Powless of the Port Angeles Police Department wrote in a report that Concord Police Det. Jason Higgins asked him in December if he was familiar with Talbert. Powless said he was familiar with him, both through his own patrol contacts and that Talbert is frequently contacted by PAPD.

“Talbert had been contacted by police shortly after the crimes but fled North Carolina shortly thereafter,” Powless wrote in his report. “I checked local police records, which indicated Talbert was first contacted by Port Angeles Police in November of 2011.”

Higgins and other investigators arrived in Port Angeles on May 18. After the arrest warrant was issued on Thursday, Talbert was located in the 2300 block of West 18th Street and taken into custody without incident, according to court documents.

Powless said he identified Talbert in multiple ways, including a Washington state identification card as well as a North Carolina identification card, in addition to a photograph Higgins supplied from Talbert’s North Carolina identification card. Talbert’s name, date of birth and physical description matched information provided on the warrant.

“It should be noted that, to end up in Port Angeles, Talbert has traveled at least 2,900 miles away from the jurisdiction in which the accused crimes occurred,” Powless wrote in his report. “Port Angeles is nearly the farthest away he could get within the continental United States. For this reason, I find it highly likely that, given the chance to flee, Talbert would do so to avoid prosecution.”

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Editor Brian McLean can be reached by email at brian.mclean@peninsuladailynews.com.