Yeah, sorry Willough.
I suppose it is "foul play", declaring it as a murder case, as does saying that ABC knew her murderer etc. I suppose what I was getting at is that "foul play" doesn't mean that GBC did it...that it just means that *someone* did it--ie: it wasn't an accident/she didn't commit suicide.
With regards to decomposition: I'm an archaeologist so in no ways a forensic pathologist or anything like that however rates of decomposition or (for that matter) preservation depends on a whole bunch of things including what the body was subjected to (eg: has it been in water for a long time, was it subjected to environmental forces that includes it's movement within water courses etc). It also depends on the weather (temperature). If it's exposed then (apologies for the details) eg. animals can interfere with the body. There's a whole bunch of things that could happen. A corpse, in the right conditions, could be missing extremities for various reasons. A close examination of the body could distinguish if this was due to natural forces or due to human intervention. This could probably (however) come out in an autopsy rather than waiting for pathology.
My point (although I don't believe it to be the case): ABC could be missing extremities.
I find Hawkin's statement intriguing. Wish we knew what the facts were.