English Translation
What happened to them is still a mystery.
How does 依然とした differ from まだ or もう？
My guess is it places more emphasis on the idea of “still,” kind of like 今更。
今更 means “it’s too late to bring this up”. 今更 is not related to 依然として or まだ or もう.
There is no use of 依然とした (i.e. followed by a noun). We use 依然として as an adverb only. 依然として means “still remain in the original status”.
依 means “to lean/rely on”, “to refer to”, or “to be based on” (e.g 依拠する = it is proven based on evidence X; 依頼する = ask a favor of someone). So, 依 has an image of robust hard core and you cannot bend it easily. Therefore, 依然として is used when the situation hasn’t changed yet.
You cannot replace 依然として謎だ with もう謎だ. もう is “have already changed the nature/situation”. It doesn’t make sense in this context.
You can replace 依然として謎だ with まだ謎だ. But 依然として sounds more formal, and better collocation with 彼らの身に何が起こったか (also sounds formal).
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