I'm a certified commercial pilot and I'm researched this incident extensively.
That's the most plausible conclusion that I can come to. The precise turning to attempt to evade radar at the start (even the military radars) must have meant extremely precise planning at the start.
There are a lot of other cockpit maneuveurs and flip switching you'd have to go to during this phase but I won't get into that.
You can depressurize it at altitude to kill the passengers and then put it into the furthest reaches of the ocean.
It's a very sad situation all around but I can't find any facts that would point to other alternatives.