I would also guess no, because the magical link is between the thing (lodge, focus etc.) and the aura of the living mage. If the mage is dead, there is no link, I would think.
Spirit Search would probably still be useful, if you showed the spirit a picture of the magician (and if the magician's body still looks similar to that picture).
If the guys body is too mangled to be recognizable or if you told the spirit something like "search Fred, he lives somewhere in Redmond" (untrue because he is not alive any more), it would fail.