Well, where did you die? If you weren't in the bandit camp's "area" then all those stuff along with your body would simply vanish.
Are you sure it was Elven bandits and weren't the Local Elven town border patrols? People tend to confuse the ambushes and such...but my initial statements still stands, if you died somewhere else then you'll never get your stuff back cuz' they simply disintegrated to dust.
I'm sure they were bandits, as I was the one who entered their camp. I hadn't got a quest to kill their leader, but when I saw they were elves I couldn't help myself.
Anyway, I tried to crawl away after they crippled me, and I got pretty far. I guess I was outside their area when I died. Now I can stop looking, thanks!