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.

Robert Lowery, the executive director of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, encourages those with doubts about their past to explore their website, emphasizing that Carter’s story is “a happy ending to a story that usually isn’t a happy ending.” For Steve Carter, it’s a remarkable journey of self-discovery, offering hope that even after decades, mysteries can be unraveled, and reunions can occur against all odds.