There's a domain I wanted, that was registered at GoDaddy and due to expire a couple months ago. It got renewed on the last day possible, and went to Status: Locked, so I figured its owner auto-renewed it.

I checked it again a couple days ago, though, and something weird has happened. Although internic.org says it's still registered at GoDaddy, when I do the whois at GoDaddy it just returns "No Match," with Status: Active. It's been like that for a couple days. So what could be going on?

Some registars renew the domain and bare the cost if the user does not renew, or offer a grace period such as 4 weeks before the domain is completely removed and available for purchase.

Does GoDaddy renew domains for people, even when they haven't requested it?

And how come the domain never went on HOLD status or GRACE-PERIOD?

I want this domain, but it's in some strange sort of domain limbo, where it's listed as ACTIVE, but the controlling registrar GoDaddy doesn't claim to own it.

Not just Godaddy, but all registrars renew all their domains.