Man Charged with Murder of His Estranged Wife, Whose Body Was Found at the Bottom of a Cliff

A Southern California man has been charged with murder in the death of his estranged wife, more than two months after her body was discovered at the bottom of a steep cliff.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said Sunday, Jan. 25, that Gordon Abas Goodarzi, 66, was arrested Friday, Jan. 23, and booked on a murder charge following an investigation into the death of 58-year-old Aryan Papoli.

Deputies were first called on Nov. 18, 2025, after a report of a deceased person near Highway 138 and Crestline Road in Crestline, Calif., a mountain community about 75 miles outside Los Angeles. Authorities said Papoli’s body was found roughly 75 feet down a steep embankment, and fire officials were brought in to help recover her remains.

Investigators were initially unable to identify Papoli. The sheriff’s department released a facial sketch and asked the public for help. An autopsy later found injuries consistent with a fall, and the coroner ultimately ruled the death a homicide.

By Dec. 1, Papoli was formally identified. She had been reported missing out of Newport Beach, and Newport Beach Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Steve Oberon confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that a missing-person report was filed on Nov. 22—four days after the body was found.

Papoli’s son, Navid Goodarzi, told ABC7 in a December interview that he learned the unidentified decedent was his mother just two days after Thanksgiving.

“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.”

After what the sheriff’s department described as an “extensive and persistent investigation” into the circumstances of Papoli’s death, investigators arrested Gordon at his home in Rolling Hills, Calif.

Navid, a graduate student at Harvard University, also spoke with the Los Angeles Times after his mother was identified, describing her as “a ray of light” and “sunshine manifested.” He said Papoli immigrated to the United States from Iran at age 18 with her mother and sister following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

According to Navid, Papoli later settled in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she met Gordon. The two founded a clean-energy company and raised their two sons in Southern California. Navid said his mother moved to Newport Beach about six months before her death, hoping to find a peaceful place to pursue creative interests in retirement.

Navid has since created a website in his mother’s memory featuring photos and her artwork.

“She loved people; she loved animals; she loved art,” he told ABC7. “She never grew up with an opportunity to express herself with art; she grew up in Tehran, Iran, and lived through revolution and war. She came to the United States and built a career, a life, a family.”

After his arrest, Gordon was booked into the Central Detention Center in San Bernardino, where he is being held without bail. Jail records show he is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Monday, Jan. 26, at 8:30 a.m. local time.