Man uncovers haunting past after finding himself on missing children's website

When Steve Carter was just four years old, he was adopted from an orphanage in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Carter had an 'amazing childhood' with his adoptive family but knew nothing about his life before the adoption.

As he grew up, he understandably became curious about where he came from but what he discovered when researching his past changed his life forever.

Speaking on the What It Was Like podcast, the salesman said: "I had an amazing childhood.

"I was adopted and raised by two individuals who are just phenomenal... They'll always be my parents."

But he didn't know who left him at the orphanage, or why.

Steve Carter was adopted from an orphanage when he was four years old (CNN)

After hearing a missing person story about a woman who discovered she'd been abducted as a child, he started to look into his own past, searching for details about missing children in Hawaii

He eventually came across an image of himself as a baby on MissingKids.com, alongside a digitally aged up image of what he could look like now. Carter immediately knew it was him.

"I got chills," Carter recalled to People in 2012. "I was like, 'Holy crap, it’s me.'"

Upon the discovery, he contacted the police and underwent DNA testing to prove whether or not he was actually the missing child from the photographs.

The tests confirmed that is was him.

He then went on to learn that his birth name was Marx Panama Moriarty Barnes.

In 1997, his father, Mark Barnes, had reported him missing after his mother, Charlotte Moriarty, went for a walk with him and never returned.

He later discovered that he was actually a missing person while doing some research into his past (MissingKids.com)

Charlotte had reportedly gone to a stranger's home and given a fake name for herself and her baby, before later being admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

Baby Barnes/Carter was then placed in a small orphanage just 30 miles from his home.

This ultimately hampered search efforts for the missing child and he was adopted by married couple Steven and Pam Carter three years later. He then moved to New Jersey with his adoptive parents.

Following the haunting discovery about his past, Carter reconnected with his some of his biological family, including his father and half-sister.

Speaking about the first phone call with his biological son, Max Barnes told People in 2012: "All I could say was, 'Wow. Oh, wow. Wow'.

"I always expected a knock at the door or a phone call."

At the time, Carter said that he planned to meet his family in person one day.

"It would be a real shame if I didn’t get to know the people I’m related to," he said. "It’s good to know where you’ve come from."