My humble opinion, not having been involved in any aspect of the event. Admittedly things were handled very poorly at the command level and actions were taken that should never have occured. To answer your question, yes, traces of the green tip color paint could deposit on the plate surfaces around the point of initial penetration. Chances are they would be significantly small though because unlike target marking paint that is designed to come off on impact, the tip color paint is not. Doesn't mean it won't though on impact with a hard surface. It would no doubt take a forensics level analysis to recover and identify any of the paint or a very lucky human eye spotting of a flake because the residue would be very small. In the heat of the moment, no one was looking for it, later on decisions were made that would mean no one would look for it either. I have no idea what happened to the body armor or when disposition was made. If the body armor was burned, however, I doubt seriously that it was to cover up traces of green paint. Body armor involved in a penetration death is generally covered with blood, flesh and other unwanted material. It cannot be cleaned to the point of rebuild and re-issue so the easiest thing to do is destroy it. Any unaffected plates would no doubt be removed for later reuse and the remainder destroyed. For something contaminated with biological waste burning is the most often used destruction method.
