While working inside the drivers side door to repair the dust cap inside the key lock and figure out why the door handle felt broken (it wasn't. The hinge pin had wiggled out), the vehicle's VBO was found taped to the backside of the inner door panel.
Edited: Had to rebuild the lock ultimately. The core and pins were good however the spring loaded dust cap had actually broken in two places and a key forced in so hard the spring had been jammed straight to the back of the core. The car came with replacement locks but the cores had to be swapped. Now I don't need to force the key in at a janky angle to unlock the drivers side, hurrah.