Police hope sketch generates leads
CONCORD, N.C. -- Family members of murdered Sun-drop Bottling Company secretary Donna Barnhardt say they hope a new sketch of a possible suspect leads police to her killer.
"Somebody knows something," said her son Seth Barnhardt, as he prepared to help hand out fliers with the sketch. "We just hope they do the right thing and come forward."
Concord Police investigators say an hour before the shootings of Barnhardt and 44-year-old Darrell Noles on June 13, someone matching the description of the man in the sketch came to the door of the Sun-drop plant on Cabarrus Avenue.
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That would have been about 9 a.m. and the door was still locked. Police say by the time an unnamed employee opened the door, the man was gone. Then an hour later a gunman entered the lobby, grabbed some cash and coins and shot and killed Barnhardt and Noles, who had come into see about a job.
After the shootings, witnesses told police they saw a man walking away from the company, west on Cabarrus Avenue.
"We are not positive it's the same individual but the descriptions are very similar," said Concord Police Deputy Chief Guy Smith. If they are one and the same, "this person would be our suspect," said Smith.
The reward for information in the case has now swelled from $50,000 to $75,000, thanks to donations from the beverage industry and others. Anyone with information about the man in the sketch is asked to call Cabarrus County CrimeStoppers at 704-932-7463.
Police stopped cars on the roads around the plant and handed out copies of the sketch. Family members nailed the posters on trees around the neighborhood and said they hoped the sketch would breath new life into the search for the killer.
Shawn Barnhardt, another of Donna's sons said, "She'd want us to keep going."
Barnhardt's family has created a Web site with information on the ongoing investigation at .
