Is there any explanation as to how they could have missed the body for over a month with 12 S&R canine/cadaver teams operating in the area -- and buzzards flying overhead???
Considering that around here the trees, and most vining stuff don't lose their leaves, and one is tromping through dead grass probably thre to four feet high, plus the weather extremes we've had..from 19 degrees to nineties, I can easily envision that. I would think that after the body was picked a bit by buzzards, and then "leavings" fell from the tree, that coyotes, possums, and raccoons had their fill..
During the search, people were looking down, not up...they would've been looking for an injured or unconscious woman, and also not wanting to trip over brush themselves.
There are homes in wooded settings probably 500 feet from my house, where one would be hard pressed to find someone.
A couple of years ago, a guy hanged himself in a tree, probably 75 feet from the shoulder of the road, and he wasn't noticed until two weeks later.
Aside from calling her name, when I've seen searches here, the folks have long walking sticks, they poke into the high brush as they make their way through.