The wealthy tech CEO accused of murdering his estranged wife amid a multimillion-dollar divorce battle is facing the death penalty after prosecutors said he had been “lying in wait” to commit the shocking crime.
Gordon Abas Goodarzi appears in San Bernardino Superior Court for arraignment for murder on Jan. 27, 2026, accused of killing his estranged wife for financial gain. Frederick M. Brown for California PostGordon Abas Goodarzi, 66, who appeared in a San Bernardino court on Thursday morning wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, did not speak when the assistant district attorney made a special circumstances filing saying Goodarzi murdered his wife for financial gain.
The amended charges make Goodarzi eligible for the death penalty after he allegedly murdered Aryan Papoli, 58, whose lifeless body was found at the bottom of a mountainside in Crestline in November.
Aryan Papoli, who grew up in Iran, met her husband Goodzari nearly three decades ago in California’s South Bay.
Instagram/@avissapapoliThe court filing stated that Goodarzi “killed the victim by means of lying in wait.”
Goodarzi’s son Milad and Papoli’s sister sat in the gallery Thursday as the announcement was made. His arraignment and bail hearing are now set for Feb. 10, where he is expected to plead not guilty to the charges.
Papoli’s body was found down a steep embankment off the side of the road in Crestline, roughly 70 miles east of Los Angeles, on Nov. 18. Google Street View“He’s stunned,” Goodarzi’s defense attorney Scott Simmons told The Post. “Nobody likes a special circumstances being filed. But he is looking forward to his day in court. He is innocent, he claims his innocence and he absolutely cant wait for his day in court to prove his innocence.”
As their divorce battle dragged on, Papoli withdrew $5 to $8 million from a joint bank account and plans were in the works to split the couple’s luxe properties among their two sons.
The properties included their “marital residence” in Rolling Hills worth $3 million, a $1 million home in Chino Hills, a massive industrial property in Worcester, Massachusetts, and a vacant lot worth $500,000 in Crestline — the same town where Papoli’s body was found.
Goodarzi, a tech engineer who scored $50 million in 2021 when he sold his electric-vehicle technology company US Hybrid, had been married to Papoli for 28 years. She had been seeking spousal support leading up to her death.
Their divorce, which sited “irreconcilable differences,” was filed in June and officially called off on December 23 after Papoli’s death. Prosecutors say money is the motive in the case.
Papoli was apparently trying to pass money on to their two sons, who are both in their 20s, but Goodarzi still had a “community property and inheritance right to the funds.”
Papoli had moved to Newport Beach six months prior to her death.
Her body was found at the bottom of a steep embankment about 75 miles away and not identified for nearly two weeks.
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