Cold case suspect known to police

Published 2:00 pm Wednesday, May 27, 2026

PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles man who is the prime suspect in a North Carolina cold case has been contacted by Port Angeles police officers nearly 300 times in the past 15 years, law enforcement officials said.

Johnny Steven Talbert, 43, who was arrested last week on an extraditable warrant in the 2300 block of West 18th Street, was contacted by the Port Angeles Police Department 288 times since November 2011, Det. Sgt. Josh Powless said.

Fourteen of those contacts led to arrests — two of which were for felonies, Powless said.

“We see him daily. He’s part of the transient community here,” Powless said. “Our patrol people are very familiar with him.”

Talbert, who was being held without bail on Wednesday in the Clallam County Jail, now faces the possibility of being transported to Concord, N.C., to face murder charges. Last week’s warrant from Cabarrus County was for two counts of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree robbery with a dangerous weapon in the 2008 double homicide at the Sun Drop bottling plant in Concord.

Talbert is scheduled for a review hearing on extradition at 9 a.m. June 12 in Clallam County Superior Court.

“He can either ‘waive extradition,’ which means he is not challenging the process, and I believe the (North Carolina) jurisdiction has 30 days to remove him to NC. Or he can fight extradition and there will be a process which includes a court hearing in front of a judge,” Port Angeles Police Chief Brian Smith said.

A similar situation occurred in reverse last year, when Tina Marie Alcorn was arrested in Phillips County, Ark., for the 2016 murder of George Cecil David in Port Angeles.

Alcorn, 55, waived extradition and was returned to Clallam County in June 2025. She pleaded guilty to second-degree murder with a deadly weapon and was sentenced last December to more than 13 years in prison.

Talbert’s history includes a conviction for harassment with threats to kill, a Class C felony, and harassment with a threat to bodily injury, a gross misdemeanor. He pleaded guilty on June 29, 2023, and was sentenced to three months in jail.

The felony harassment incident occurred at a coffee shop in Port Angeles, from which Talbert previously had been trespassed. According to court documents, a barista provided him with water and asked him to leave, and Talbert made a gun gesture with his hand and threatened to kill the barista and their entire family.

The maximum sentence for a Class C felony is five years, but because Talbert’s offender score was zero, the standard range was one to three months. He received the high end of the range. He also received credit for time served while the case progressed through the justice system.

On Feb. 5, 2022, a Port Angeles Post Office employee reported a belligerent man who was threatening customers. Police responded and could not locate the man. A half an hour later, a woman reported fearing for her life at the post office when a man later identified as Talbert jumped in front of her, swore at her and threatened to punch her and rip out her throat. Talbert was arrested a short time later for felony harassment, according to court records.

Court documents also state Talbert has seven gross misdemeanor convictions, including first-degree criminal trespass, harassment, fourth-degree assault, criminal trespass and two additional harassment charges. He also was held for indecent exposure and disorderly conduct.

Additional records paint a picture of a man who has unspecified schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders and has been shuffled back and forth between court proceedings and mental health institutions for competency restoration.

In several cases, including as recently as Jan. 16, 2025, forensic psychological evaluations state Talbert doesn’t possess the capacity to understand the nature of the proceedings against him, nor does he have the capacity to assist in his defense. He has been ordered for separate 45-day and 90-day periods of restoration since 2023, and many times, the evaluations state there is a likelihood that Talbert will improve with continued medication and treatment.

The January 2025 report also states there is evidence to indicate Talbert is a risk of danger to himself and others. The report states he had a physical altercation with a staff member at the facility and verbally threatened other staff members.

Police in North Carolina believe Talbert is responsible for the double homicide known as the Sun Drop murders nearly 20 years ago.

At about 10 a.m. on June 13, 2008, officers with the Concord Police Department responded to the Sun Drop Bottling Company, where they located two people with gunshot wounds. They were later identified as office manager Donna Barnhardt, 59, and Darrell Noles, 44, who was there applying for a job. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

Detectives spoke with multiple witnesses who reported seeing a black man with a slender build, about 5-foot-7 to 6 feet tall and weighing 170 to 180 pounds, wearing a white shirt and blue jeans, leaving the scene on foot.

In Clallam County court documents, Talbert is listed as a Black male, 5-foot-11, 160 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.

Officers in North Carolina canvassed the area in the moments and hours that followed the incident, collecting additional evidence and statements. Based on witness descriptions, a composite sketch of the suspect was released in September 2008.

Despite thoroughly investigating hundreds of tips from the community, the case remained unsolved, the city of Concord stated in a news release this week.

“In the years that followed, detectives with Concord PD continued to investigate and submit evidence for lab tests as technology evolved,” according to the news release.

A break came in late 2025, the city of Concord said.

“Through a meticulous reexamination of evidence and the pursuit of previously undeveloped leads, detectives uncovered critical information that ultimately led to Talbert’s arrest,” according to the news release.

The city didn’t specify the connection and said it wouldn’t release additional information because the investigation remains active.

A Concord detective contacted the Port Angeles Police Department in December and traveled to Port Angeles on May 18. The North Carolina warrant was issued last Thursday, and Port Angeles police arrested Talbert later that same day.

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