Her body.....He lost his shoe while burying her.....that's why they kept going back...trying to find the missing shoe.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
Ding Ding Ding - we have a winner!!!
If the shoes was lost while her was burying her then she will be near the shoe.
One of my favorite fictional detectives says, "The murderer always brings something of himself to the crime scene, and always leaves something of himself behind."
So you may be right!
"That's my story and I'm sticking to it!"
Argh, argh, ar arr!
That was precisely my theory with a few embellishments to it. A little more intricate than yours, but it basically was constructed around the missing shoe and his attempts to retrieve it.