Okay, I was mistaken! I was inadvertently separating the front glass (shattered) from the digitizer, not the LCD. Once the edges were free of the frame, the assembly lifted up revealing more layers of glass underneath; the actual LCD I presume. The lesson being that if the front glass is severely fragmented, it can be impossible to pry up the edges even if the whole front is taped over. And sliding the opener picks between the front glass proper and the very thin glass of the digitizer panel is possible while they are warm.
I'm trying to decide if I should give up on this repair. I don't know if i have an early production unit or what, but the digitizer glass on mine is bonded all the way across the LCD with transparent adhesive. (Model: A1416 64GB) I've looked around the Net and found another user asking about the same situation. Apparently very rare.
