CDG1
You raise a good point but....
Think back to Lockerbie. A sudden, disastrous in-flight break-up. There was no time for a radio message before the flight crew were incapacitated. There have been many similar incidents.
Here we have a bad weather system up to 41,000 feet (look at the previous posts herein) - a lot higher than this aircraft was probably at. It was night so there would be no visual indication of Cu Nim (CB). The dangers of CAT are already well known. Then the aircraft runs into the equivalent of Mother Natures sledge hammer including (perhaps) a major lightning strike that severely effects the electrical systems including the weather radar and, more crucially, the auto-pilot - something you really do not want at FL350 or higher.
Aircraft out of control, at high speed (Mach .83+?) no means of communication, little means of regaining manual control. The airframe begins to rapidly break up.
It's a minus situation for even the best of pilots.
Conjecture? Sure it's conjecture. But what else are we likely to have here unless, by some miracle, the 'boxes' are recovered.