Phantom centroids interfere with topology and can't be removed

[phmurphy]

I am making a topology that keeps failing because of duplicate centroid problems in two polygons. I know the polygons are closed because I can hatch them cleanly. If I remove the text from the polygons the topology is created successfully but there is no text centroid present. If I highlight the zone around the error symbols after the topology fails with the text centroid, and erase them, this doesn't help. Any sugestions.

[phmurphy]

I figured out a creative work-around, but is there an explanation for the problem.

I copied all the centroids to a new layer via a selection set, then I used Express to auto text number the centroids. The phantom centroids showed up as numbers with no text prefix, and I was able to delete them and replace the centroid with the proper text. Everything worked out. I tried file audit before this and that didn't help. Now, how do I remove the numeric suffixes easily?