Estranged husband of woman killed in San Bernardino Mountains pleads not guilty to murder charge
By Austin Turner, Joy Benedict, Dean Fioresi
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LOS ANGELES, California (KCAL, KCBS) — The man charged with murder in connection with his estranged wife’s November death in the San Bernardino Mountains pleaded not guilty in an arraignment hearing on Tuesday.
Gordon Abas Goodarzi, a 66-year-old resident of Rolling Hills, appeared in front of a judge in a San Bernardino County courthouse on Tuesday morning wearing an orange jumpsuit with his hands cuffed. He spoke only to his attorneys, who entered the not guilty plea on his behalf.
The court denied a $1 million bail request for Goodarzi, who will remain in custody for his trial, which was set to begin with a preliminary hearing on Feb. 24.
“Bail is not a right for an individual charged with a capital offense,” the judge said.
Goodarzi is accused of killing his estranged wife, 58-year-old Aryan Papoli of Newport Beach. She was found dead about 75 feet down a steep embankment in Crestline on Nov. 18 with injuries consistent with a fall. An autopsy later determined her death to be a homicide, authorities said.
On Tuesday, prosecutors argued that they believed Papoli was killed in her Newport Beach home and that security cameras at her complex showed him coming and going around the time that she is believed to have died in November. They also said that Goodarzi told police he wasn’t sure where Papoli lived.
“We believe this demonstrates suspicious circumstances evidence that he was hiding out in that area waiting for the victim to return home, so that he could experience a surprise attack on her,” an attorney said during Tuesday’s court hearing.
They also argued that Papoli was killed for money.
“The defendant allegedly told the victim that he would rather see her die than get more money from him,” the attorney said.
Papoli filed for divorce from Goodarzi just months before her death after 28 years of marriage, according to court documents. A tech CEO, Goodarzi, along with Papoli, owned five properties, including one in Crestline, where her body was found.
According to court documents, the crime could have “involved great violence,” the “attempted or actual taking of great monetary value,” or that Papoli was “particularly vulnerable.”
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