Man Discovers He Was Kidnapped as a Baby after Finding His Photo on a Missing Kids Website

A man clicked on a website for missing kids and found a picture of himself. He knew he was adopted but the web search led to a heartbreaking discovery about his birth mother.

Steve Carter found himself on a missing children's website. The then-35-year-old knew that he was adopted in Honolulu, Hawaii when he was four years old. He had lived in an orphanage but didn't know much about the circumstances.

Carter moved on with his life, but in 2011 he began to think about his family history when he got married and considered having his own kids.

FOUND HIMSELF ON A WEBSITE

Carter said a TV program about Carlina White's missing child story caught his attention and nudged him to explore more of his own. After visiting Missingkids.com, an age-progression image of himself left Carter speechless.

He knew he was looking at himself and reached out to the Honolulu Police Department. They did lots of work to investigate his story and even ran a DNA test. That's how he discovered his birth name was actually Marx Panama Moriarty Barnes.

TRACKING DOWN HIS FATHER

He was able to track down his biological father, Mark Barnes. Barnes was the man who notified authorities that his son had gone missing. According to the report, Carter's biological mother, Charlotte Moriarty, was responsible.

Moriarty took her son along for a walk but never returned. Carter claims that his mother placed him in an orphanage and changed his name to Tenzin Amea.

A LOT TO DIGEST

Barnes stated that he wished he had reported his son missing sooner. After many years, he was shocked to receive a phone call from his long-lost son.

Carter said the experience was "a lot to digest." While many reunion stories have happy endings, Carter wanted to take his time to process everything that had happened.

HE IS IN NO RUSH

The whereabouts of his biological mother are purportedly unknown, and an air of mystery still surrounds the story of what really happened to him in Honolulu.

Before rushing to meet with the family members he had found out about, Carter first wanted to gain more insight into his initial disappearance.

THE ONLINE REACTIONS

Commenters had a lot to say about the case. Many applauded the age-progression image which started Carter off on this life-changing journey. A user said: "The age-progressed picture was so accurate!"

Others highlighted the emotions connected to the man's experience. A netizen wrote: "That's horrifying. Just imagine, out of curiosity, you go onto a missing child website and see yourself."

HAPPY ABOUT THE DISCOVERY

One person added some suspicions about Carter's mother and wanted to know more. They said: "This story is sketchy, what happened to his mom and how she disappeared? She was running away from something ..."

Amid the many opinions related to Carter's case, he is happy he made the discovery. Despite not having all of the answers, Carter said that good things still happen.