The estranged husband of a wealthy Southern California socialite has been arrested months after her body was found at the bottom of a steep mountain embankment.
Gordon Abas Goodarzi, 66, was taken into custody Friday at his Rolling Hills home following what authorities described as an “extensive and persistent investigation” into the death of his wife, Aryan Papoli. The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department announced the arrest Saturday.
Papoli, 58, was discovered dead shortly before noon on November 18, 2025, near Crestline in the San Bernardino Mountains—nearly 100 miles from the couple’s estate in Rolling Hills. An autopsy later ruled her death a homicide, citing injuries consistent with a fall down a roughly 75-foot embankment.
Goodarzi is being held without bail at the Central Detention Center.
Papoli grew up in Iran and moved to the United States at 18. She met Goodarzi nearly three decades ago in California, and together they co-founded U.S. Hybrid, a clean-energy firm. 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.
Six months before she was killed, Papoli relocated to Newport Beach, seeking what family described as a peaceful, creative retirement. She volunteered with the South Coast Botanical Garden and UCLA Fowler Museum, while immersing herself in ceramics, photography, and—most recently—dance.
Before turning to the arts, Papoli built a formidable corporate career, earning degrees in business and coaching and serving as a company’s CFO and vice president of operations.
Her son Navid declined to comment publicly during the early stages of the investigation, telling the Los Angeles Times in December that he had not spoken to his mother for weeks before her disappearance because of the demands of his master’s program at Harvard University.
Papoli was officially reported missing on November 22—four days after deputies had already discovered a body near 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 told ABC7. “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 has since focused on honoring his mother’s memory, maintaining a tribute website meant to capture the optimism and creativity that defined the final chapter of her life.
“She was so full of inspiration and optimism at this moment of her life,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “Building a website to showcase her is something I wish I could have done when she was alive.”
