The estranged husband of a wealthy Newport Beach, California, socialite, whose body was discovered at the bottom of a 75-foot embankment in the San Bernardino Mountains, has been arrested in connection with her death.
Gordon Abas Goodarzi, 66, was taken into custody Friday at his Rolling Hills residence following an “extensive and persistent investigation” into the death of 58-year-old Aryan Papoli, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department announced Saturday.
Papoli was found dead shortly before noon on November 18, 2025, near Crestline, nearly 100 miles from her Rolling Hills estate. An autopsy later ruled her death a homicide, noting injuries consistent with a fall.
Goodarzi is being held at the Central Detention Center without bail.
Papoli grew up in Iran and moved to the U.S. with her family at age 18. She met Goodarzi nearly 30 years ago in California, and together they founded U.S. Hybrid, a clean energy company. The couple had two sons, Navid and Milad, and purchased a five-bedroom home in Rolling Hills in 2017, which they still owned at the time of her death. “
“Growing up with them, I saw before my eyes that nothing is impossible,” Navid told the Los Angeles Times in December, a month after his mother’s passing.
Six months before her death, Papoli relocated to Newport Beach to enjoy a peaceful, creative retirement. There, she volunteered with the South Coast Botanical Garden and UCLA’s Fowler Museum, while pursuing ceramics, photography, and, recently, dance.
Before dedicating herself to the arts, she had a successful corporate career, earning a degree in Business and Coaching and serving as CFO and VP of Operations.
Navid declined to comment on his mother’s disappearance, death, or how the family learned of it in December, citing the then-ongoing investigation.
He told ABC7 that he hadn’t spoken to his mother for weeks because of the demanding coursework for his master’s at Harvard.
She was reported missing on November 22, 2025—four days after law enforcement found a body in Crestline. Two days before Thanksgiving, the sheriff’s department confirmed to Navid that the body was his mother’s.
“When she was missing, we were sort of going from this frantic pass, all engines flaring, like how can we find her?” Navid said. “When we got the news, it sort of feels like the wind gets knocked out of you. The first day it’s a lot of shock.”
Navid said he plans to continue updating a tribute website in her honor, aiming to celebrate her full, vibrant life.
“She was so full of inspiration and optimism at this moment of her life. Building a website to showcase her is something I wish I could have done when she was alive,” he told the LA Times.
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