Originally making headlines in April 2012, the story of Steve Carter continues to captivate hearts and minds around the world. It’s a rare tale—one that offers hope, defies the odds, and highlights the astonishing power of technology, persistence, and self-discovery.
Steve Carter, a 35-year-old software salesman from Philadelphia, never imagined that a casual internet search would turn his entire world upside down. One day, out of curiosity and a growing desire to understand his origins, he visited the website of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children—MissingKids.com. What he found would set him on a yearlong journey to uncover the truth of who he really was.
Adopted at age four from an orphanage in Honolulu, Hawaii, Steve had always carried a quiet sense of mystery about his early life. Though he was raised in a loving family, questions about his birth and what had happened before his adoption lingered. Inspired by the story of Carlina White—a woman who discovered she had been kidnapped as a baby after recognizing herself on the same website—Steve decided to dig deeper.
While browsing the site, Carter stumbled upon an age-progression photo—an image that instantly caught his eye. The picture, based on a baby photo of a missing child, looked exactly like him. It wasn’t just a resemblance. Steve was sure that the child in the image *was* him. The name listed was Marx Panama Moriarty Barnes, a baby who had gone missing in Hawaii more than 30 years earlier.
Unable to shake the uncanny similarity, Steve reached out to the Honolulu Police Department. Investigators took his claim seriously and launched an inquiry, including a DNA test. In February 2011, the test confirmed what Steve suspected: he was indeed the missing boy named Marx. His biological father, Mark Barnes, had reported him missing in the early 1980s after Steve’s mother, Charlotte Moriarty, took the baby for a walk and never returned.
Steve had been placed in a Hawaiian orphanage under a different name and eventually adopted by a family unaware of his past. The circumstances of how and why he ended up in the orphanage remain unclear, and his mother’s whereabouts after the disappearance are still unknown. Despite the unresolved questions, the discovery offered long-lost answers to both Steve and his biological father.
The executive director of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Robert Lowery, praised Carter’s initiative. “This is a happy ending to a story that usually isn’t a happy ending,” he said, urging others with questions about their past to check the center’s website.
Steve Carter’s incredible story is not just about a man finding his birth family—it’s a powerful reminder that even after decades, lost connections can be restored. His journey encourages others to seek the truth, trust their instincts, and believe that hope, no matter how distant, can lead to healing.