[dogma1138]

The problem is that there is no one to bluff at this point, I'm still not sure what exactly happened but apparently some one "changed" the password, the reports conflict as to whom actually done it and very between LEO techs (mainly FBI) to the IT department of the county pretty much unlinking the device from the Apple ID used or initiating a password reset in which case the old password is no longer valid for the backups of the device.

I've tried to go over the documents that the FBI submitted to the court and I couldn't get a clear answer who owned the device, but it seemed that it was at least partially managed by the county.

The FBI had the original Apple ID password and could access the device in theory but it seems now that after it's been unlinked or some one has changed it to a completely random password (as it doesn't seem like some one did it intentionally to interfere with the investigation) so there is no one to really socially engineer.

[iSnow]

>The FBI had the original Apple ID password and could access the device in theory

That makes it pretty clear which institution switched the Apple-ID on the device, don't you think?