Civil Death Registration Question

A few months ago I discovered on Family Search a civil death record from Mexico that I used to establish a relative's death. Same date of birth reflected on his baptism record, same parents, and the name of one of his (many) wives as "conyuge." It showed his death in Mexico, at a home in the town of his birth, along with the name and license number for the attending physician, and the physician's address.

Yesterday, however, I was told that the ancestor had actually died and was buried in Southern California.

I was shown a Social Security Death Registry entry that had a date of birth which had been used as an alternate in many instances by this relative (4 years earlier than his baptism record). The date of death was 4 years prior to the date on the Mexican record.

My first thought was that we had two individuals, born years apart, given the same name by their parents. I've had that occur before in my tree. But this individual has a somewhat historic profile. He and his family have been written about extensively, and there is no mention of a second child with the same name.

In the past I have seen Civil Registrations for deaths that occurred in the US when the body was returned to Mexico for interment, but there is no mention of that in this case.

Any ideas on what may have occurred?

Annette Avila Nunez
bbbunny@aol.com