Tech millionaire is charged with murder after estranged socialite wife was found dead at bottom of 75ft embankment

A tech millionaire has been charged with murder months after his estranged wife was found dead at the bottom of a 75-foot embankment in a California mountain range. 

Aryan Papoli, 58, of Newport Beach, was found below a steep embankment along a mountain road in Crestline on November 18, though her body was not formally identified until December 1. 

Her husband, Gordon Abas Goodarzi, 68, was charged with first-degree murder on Saturday following an ‘extensive and persistent investigation,’ according to the Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

The coroner determined the socialite’s death was a homicide following a ‘complete review’ of the autopsy results, according to officials. 

‘Through a continued and diligent investigation, Goodarzi was contacted at his residence and later arrested,’ police said in the release. 

Charging documents, obtained by the New York Post, allege that Papoli was ‘particularly vulnerable’ and that her husband carried out the killing with ‘planning, sophistication and professionalism.’

The filings also allege that the crime was financially motivated and involved ‘an attempted or actual taking or damage of great monetary value.’ 

Goodarzi was booked into the San Bernardino Central Detention Center, where he remains held without bail. 

‘My mom was a ray of light, sunshine manifested,’ Papoli’s son, 25-year-old Navid Goodarzi, told the Los Angeles Times in December. 

‘She always gave 150 percent to herself and to everyone,’ he added.

The arrest comes after deputies from the Twin Peaks Station responded to reports of a deceased person at the bottom of an embankment along Highway 138 and Crestline Road in the San Bernardino Mountains on November 18.

A fully clothed body was recovered from the mountainside by the San Bernardino County Fire Department, with the Specialized Investigations Division called in to assist. 

The body was taken to the coroner’s office, where the initial autopsy found her injuries were ‘consistent with a fall,’ according to authorities.

The body was initially unidentified and described as a white adult female, roughly 25-35 years old, wearing blue pants, a blue sweatshirt and white tennis shoes. 

In a desperate bid to identify the victim, authorities released a composite sketch of her face. 

On November 22, authorities received a missing-person report for Papoli, two days after her body was discovered. 

‘When she was missing, we were sort of going from this frantic pass, all engines flaring, like how can we find her?’ Navid told ABC 7 News in December.

But just two days before Thanksgiving, he was informed by the sheriff’s department that the body found was that of his mother.

‘It’s hard, it’s really really hard,’ Navid, who was pursuing his master’s degree at Harvard University, told the outlet, adding that he hadn’t spoken to his mother for weeks due to his school workload.

‘When we got the news, it sort of feels like the wind gets knocked out of you,’ he added, describing his mother’s death as a ‘nightmare scenario.’

Papoli’s remains were found nearly 100 miles away from the 2.2-acre, $3.5 million Rolling Hills estate she had shared with her husband since 2017, according to property records. 

It remained unclear if Papoli was living at the estate when she died, as she had moved to Newport Beach six months earlier for a peaceful, creative retirement. 

Navid said his mother spent her early years in Tehran, Iran, and at 18 emigrated with her family to the United States after living through the 1979 Islamic Revolution, according to the LA Times.

She settled in the San Francisco Bay Area and, about 30 years ago, met her husband. Together, they founded US Hybrid, a clean energy company producing zero-emission powertrain components for commercial and military vehicles.

Papoli and Goodarzi shared two sons, Navid and his older brother Milad, and in 2017 purchased a five-bedroom, six-bathroom home after being drawn to the community’s ‘tranquility and natural beauty.’ 

‘Growing up with them, I saw before my eyes that nothing was impossible,’ Navid told the outlet, describing Papoli as a ‘supermom.’

In 2021, the couple sold their clean energy company to Torrance-based Ideanomics in a $50 million cash-and-stock deal. 

She and her husband still owned the property, according to county records, but a memorial website created by her son revealed that she had been living in nearby Newport Beach. 

Navid said his mother, seeking a ‘serene place’ to nurture her creativity after leaving the corporate world, quickly immersed herself in the world of art. 

‘She started sculpting and painting, producing this phenomenal body of work,’ Navid told the LA Times, adding that she had also taken up dance and photography. ‘She was really inspired in recent years.’ 

In Newport Beach, she sat on the executive boards of the South Coast Botanic Garden and Palos Verdes Art Center, and was a Director’s Council member at UCLA’s Fowler Museum. 

‘She loved people, she loved animals, she loved art,’ Navid told ABC, noting how his mother ‘never grew up with an opportunity to express herself with art.’ 

In the wake of his mother’s passing, Navid launched a website to honor Papoli’s memory and accomplishments, noting that he wished he had done so during her lifetime. 

He encouraged all who knew her to share words of remembrance on the website so that ‘together, we can conjure a spark of her brilliance.’

Goodarzi is set to be arraigned on the murder charges on Tuesday.