ote: we are republishing this story which originally made the news in April 2012.

It’s a story that defies the odds and offers hope, as one man’s journey of self-discovery led him to an astonishing revelation after more than three decades. Steve Carter, a 35-year-old software salesman from Philadelphia, stumbled upon a missing children’s website, and to his astonishment, found himself among the featured individuals. This serendipitous discovery launched a yearlong quest to unearth the truth about his past.

Carter’s life took a unique turn when he decided to explore his origins. Adopted at the age of four from an orphanage in Honolulu, Hawaii, he had always carried questions about his true identity. Inspired by the story of Carlina White, an Atlanta woman who found her baby picture on the same website and discovered she had been kidnapped as an infant, Carter decided to delve into his own enigmatic history.

His journey began when he visited the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s website, Missingkids.com. To his amazement, he stumbled upon an age-progression image created from a photograph of himself as an infant. Carter recognized the baby in the image as himself, prompting him to contact the Honolulu Police Department to investigate further.

DNA testing in February 2011 provided a breakthrough, revealing his birth name as Marx Panama Moriarty Barnes. His biological father, Mark Barnes, had reported him missing more than 30 years ago after his mother, Charlotte Moriarty, took him for a walk and never returned. The circumstances surrounding Carter’s placement in the Hawaiian orphanage remain shrouded in mystery.