Lot of speculation here... even if it was CFIT they might have clipped terrain or power lines before crashing. Could have been instant, could have been much worse.
Either way flying SVFR in mountainous terrain is stupid.
Yep - I'm VFR or I'm IFR, the middle ground is where bad stuff happens.
Note: Just because he was too low for flight following doesn't make it especially dangerous. There are lots of places out there without low coverage.
