Strange thing... I'm killing time today because it's too windy to crash. Um, "fly". Playing around with the SC I noticed that the elevator was "clicking" when I attempted to give it "up elevator", and that it wasn't moving the control surface. Down worked, but up was a couple little clicks and nothing else. I remember it doing that once or twice since the first crash, but didn't know what it was and couldn't duplicate the problem.
Upon further investigation, I noticed that the elevator was creased slightly from one of the previously unscheduled landings. This crease was enough to close the tiny gap that's supposed to be between the control surface and the non-moving part of the elevator (at the side of the elevator, not at the hinge). The clicking was the sound of the elevator getting hung up on itself. It didn't happen all the time, possibly due to changes in temp as the gap would expand/contract. Now I'm wondering if that contributed to the tail-snapping crash - I remember not being able to pull it out of the nose dive - it seemed very sluggish in response. After putting the tail back on it happened constantly and I was able to finally find the problem.
To help remedy the situation I simply took an Xacto knife and opened up the gap a bit. No more clicking, and the control surface moves freely again. Moral of the story: strange noises are not your friend, be it in RC models or after having Mexican for dinner. Also, on pre-flight watch and listen as the control surfaces move.
I can't say for sure that this is what led to the crash or not, but it would make sense on what happened, what I saw, and what I found afterward.