Family member of Newport Beach woman found dead in Crestline sheds new light
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The son of a 58-year-old Newport Beach woman, whose body was found last month in the San Bernardino Mountains, wants others to know about her and the inspiring life she led. Meanwhile, an investigation into her death is ongoing.
News reports this week shared details on the discovery of Aryan Papoli, reported missing on Nov. 22, four days after the body of an unidentified woman was spotted 75 feet down an embankment near the town of Crestline, according to San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
Deputies from the Twin Peaks station were called to an area near Highway 138 and Crestline Road about the discovery on Nov. 18, authorities reported. Asking for the public’s help in identifying the woman, officials circulated a sketch of her likeness to news media outlets.
The San Bernardino County Coroner’s Office on Saturday confirmed Papoli’s identity, launching another wave of news reports accompanied by an image of the police sketch.
In an interview Wednesday, Papoli’s son, Navid Goodarzi, said his mother came to the U.S. from Tehran, Iran, as a young woman and not only made a new life for herself, but worked to improve the lives of others.
“My mom was a ray of light, sunshine manifested,” said Goodarzi, 25, who is earning a master’s degree from Harvard. “She always gave 150% to herself and to everyone.”
He explained that Papoli emigrated with her mother and sister from Iran when she was 18, after the nation’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, settling in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she met her husband, Abas Goodarzi. Together, the pair founded a clean energy company, U.S. Hybrid.
“Growing up with them, I saw before my eyes that nothing is impossible,” Navid Goodarzi said, describing Papoli as a “supermom.”
The husband-and-wife duo moved to Southern California, where they raised two sons. Papoli moved to Newport Beach six months ago, seeking a serene place where she could thrive creatively in her retirement from the corporate world, her son said.
There, Papoli’s interest in art and arts-related philanthropic efforts evolved. She volunteered on the board of the South Coast Botanical Garden in Palos Verdes Hills and was involved with programs at UCLA’s Fowler Museum.
In addition to an interest in ceramics and photography, Papoli had recently taken up dance, said Navid Goodarzi, who recently built a website — aryanpapoli.net — to honor his mother.
“She started sculpting and painting, producing this phenomenal body of work,” he said. “She was really inspired in recent years.”
Despite his willingness to speak with the media, the graduate student declined to comment on the nature of his mother’s disappearance, the discovery of her body or details about how or when the family learned of it all, citing the pending investigation.
While San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department investigators continue to review the circumstances surrounding Papoli’s death, officials reported Saturday that her injuries are consistent with a fall.
Navid Goodarzi said he will continue to contribute content to the tribute page he created for his mother, so that more will be known about her full and vibrant life, not just her death.
“It’s hard when I see my mom’s name and it’s just a sketch of this person who’s not her,” he said. “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.”
