where's paddedhat when you need him? :D
I'd second the suggestion of figuring out if there's anything else on that circuit. Also, try flipping the breaker off then on again--I seem to remember having a breaker once that would trip, but the switch wouldn't move.
Sorry to be late to the party. I'm reading my way through this cluster-f and thinking at the moment. First, view the whole circuit as being roughed in as logically as possible. Most competent residential electricians get paid to do things quickly, and with as little material as possible. This means that the circuit typically loops logically from one outlet to another, and doesn't jump all over hell and creation, since it wastes material. This doesn't mean that the same circuit doesn't loop from one room to another, since the closest outlet to the point of failure may be on the other side of a wall, and serving another bedroom. In bedrooms and halls, these are called "convenience outlets" and the code allows you to cover a shockingly large amount of square footage on one 15 amp circuit. Loosing continuity in a circuit because a push wired connection failed is common, and can be difficult to troubleshoot. When you insert a stripped wire into the back of a receptacle (push wire) instead of wrapping it around a screw, you are jamming the conductor into a spring steel contact. As a high amperage load cycles,( like an iron, or space heater), the wire expands and contracts at the point where the spring clip is biting into the wire. The spring contact can, and will, eventually cut through the conductor and burn off. The best way to trouble shoot this is to first pull the outlet out of the box, and physically try to yank the conductors out of the push in holes. If you need to remove the conductors you can take a small pin and push the release near the hole to release the wire. There is a tool for this, but a four penny finish nail, held with a pliers works well. To follow the current path I use a "tick tracer" this is also called a non-contact voltage tester. They are a pen like device that costs about $15 at the big box store. It can be held against the side of a conductor and it will beep if there is voltage in the wire. You can quickly find an open circuit if the device (switch or outlet) is at fault by reading the side of the hot line wire ( typically the black wire that is feeding this device from the previous hot one) If the wire is hot and the screw terminal on the side of the device is not, the wire is broken off inside the device. Using a tick tracer, you can quickly determine exactly where the break is. Remember that all this testing takes place with the breaker on, the circuit hot, and the devices hanging out of the boxes. This is dangerous, and you need to be on your game, and have no bystanders around that could get hurt.
This process of troubleshooting I described so far does not address neutrals (white wires) and they are just as important. The neutral completes the circuit, and even though it is far less like to suffer from being burned off in a push connection, it also needs to be thoroughly inspected. Yanking on the conductors that are push wired, checking lose screws, and checking connections with a volt meter, are all important. You can take a volt meter and find a broken neutral by comparing reading from hot to neutral and hot to ground. If you have a good set of connections, you should be able to read line voltage ( 120 volts, more or less) from the hot to neutral, and get the same reading from the hot to ground. if you have 120V from hot to ground at an outlet, and a zero reading from hot to neutral, you lost your neutral at that point.
Never discount a hidden junction. Hidden in the sense that they could be either up or down, as in hidden in the attic or basement floor joists. There can also be splices behind switches and receptacles, and my favorite, behind ceiling fixtures like lights or fans. I have seen rooms wired like a damn octopus, with a hot feed going to a ceiling box and wire heading across the ceiling and dropping to individual boxes like tentacles. As at least one other poster mentioned, never eliminate a hidden GFCI receptacle as part of the problem. I have been on service calls that were exactly as the OP describes, and found that the original "electrician" decided to feed an outside outlet, or one in a nearby half bath, installed a GFCI outlet in that location, then continued the circuit. This can be a real PITA to find, and I have found them behind a bush, and hidden under a workbench in a garage. In cases like this the homeowner is typically shocked to learn that the outlet even existed at all. Finally, don't assume that an white wire involved in switch wiring is a neutral. There are plenty of reasons that a white wire in this application could be a hot wire. They are supposed to be remarked as a black wire, with tape or a marker, but seldom are. Good luck, I find that problems like this are often pretty basic to correct, but can be a bitch to find.