Had his sons revealed Saddam was dead, there would have been various coup d'etat attempts by members of the inner circle, leaders from other countries, from Al Queda, etc.
It was to our benefit to have everyone believe Saddam was alive, and to the benefit of his sons/family as well.
I believe Saddam was buried by his sons in one of their unused underground vaults. We have been searching the vaults/tunnels that we captured or blew up, and have not found his body yet. I think that the location of the vault he was placed in was unknown to any but the most trusted, (and may be in Tikrit somewhere), and eventually may be found.
Maybe one day we will know what happened.
I do know that, even as the coalition strikes started, and there was news footage of Saddam touring the streets surrounded by his public, the man we saw was not Saddam.
The intelligence community has not seen the REAL Saddam for over 3 years. The one that the WORLD has seen and accepts as SADDAM is not him.