10 years ago, when you made a reservation in a country on the other side of the world - was it a reward booking, paid with points from your spouse's account?
Are the hotels owned by the same person/group? Do they share a booking/crm system? Did the hotel update that booking 10 years ago when your relative checked-in with your relative's information, but kept the rewards # on the booking because it was paid for with points? Now, in that hotel group's system, your relative's information is associated with your spouse's rewards number.
I've had something similar occur, but the hotels were much closer together, owned by the same group and shared back-end systems. Both hotels were SPG branded hotels, and the stay was a few years apart.