It could be that the piano was, indeed, worn out - I once saw a baby grand on Freecycle, and my sister, who has planned the spot she'll put one some day, had a trusted piano tuner look at it, and the guy called her back and told her it had been used so hard hat it was not even worth the cost of moving it, it would cost more to repair than a new piano would even cost.

Hopefully they salvaged what valuable parts they could but for example, if the sounding board is cracked, there's not much that can be done!