Blake.Waterman
27y/o airframe or not. Ripped of Vertical stabilizer is an extremely rare occurrence and more importantly will in all likelyhood lead to a much less stable terminal flight profile. Whatever accuracy we assume for FR24 data the speeds/altitudes indicate rather clearly an aircraft that went in nose first. Losing the V/S will very likely lead to much more erratic profiles/behahviour on the way down.
In any case the FDR will give clear indication about directional control on the way down and will thus answer this question relatively quickly.