There is nothing unusual about the death certificates (below) for my great-grandparents. They were obtained in 1999 and you can see that the state loved red stamps. If you look closely, you can see that they died in Illinois and were buried in Washington, D.C.
The third certificate is for my great-grandmother, recently found on the internet, is from the District of Columbia. Her information was "furnished by transit permit." If you ever have a "transit permit" certificate of death, you will see there is very little information provided, so try and obtain the original certificate from where that person died.
The saddest thing is, I haven't a clue where I found her second certificate on the internet. And, I can't even locate my great-grandfather's "transit permit" (his record of death, does state transit permit), although I saw a shorter one and copied to my computer, somewhere. Lesson learned to myself...pay more attention and keep better records, even after all these years, I mess up.
Click to enlarge.