The future of a $3 million industrial property in Worcester is unclear after the filing of a murder charge by prosecutors in California against the president and CEO of the company that operates out of the facility.
Gordon Goodarzi, 66, is accused of killing his wife, Aryan Papoli, 58, in the midst of a divorce. Papoli’s body was found at the bottom of a steep embankment in San Bernardino County last November — it took investigators two weeks to identify the body as Papoli’s. Officials said her injuries were consistent with a fall, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Goodarzi was charged with murder in January by the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office. The murder charge carries what’s known as a special circumstance — essentially a specific factor that elevates it to a more severe level. In Goodarzi’s case, prosecutors have accused him of committing murder for financial gain, court records show.
He had not yet been arraigned on the charge as of Thursday afternoon, court records show.
Months before her death, Papoli initiated divorce proceedings against her husband of nearly three decades, citing irreconcilable differences in a Los Angeles County Superior Court filing.
In her petition, Papoli listed five properties the couple acquired during their marriage — among them the industrial facility at 10 Coppage Drive in Worcester that houses Goodarzi’s company, Magmotor Technologies, Inc.
Papoli was the company’s chief financial officer, and her husband acted as president and CEO, according to their respective LinkedIn profiles.
In addition to the Worcester property, the couple owned a 5-bedroom home in Rolling Hills, California, valued close to $3 million and a 4-bedroom home in Chino Hills, California, valued around $1 million.
The divorce filing also lists a pair of vacant lots in California — in Lucerne Valley and in Crestline. Those properties are worth about $47,000 and $220,000, respectively, assessment records show. Papoli’s body was found about 3 miles from the Crestline property.
Prosecutors accused Goodarzi of carrying out the killing of his wife with “planning, sophistication, and professionalism,” The California Post reported. Papoli was “particularly vulnerable,” prosecutors wrote in a charging document obtained by the outlet.
The crime involved “an attempted or actual taking or damage of great monetary value,” according to prosecutors, the Post reported.
In addition to Magmotor Technologies, Goodarzi founded a company named U.S. Hybrid in 1999, which was sold for $50 million in 2021, according to the L.A. Business Journal. Papoli was the vice president of operations for the company.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times in December, the couple’s son, Navid Goodrazi, 25, described his mother as a “ray of light, sunshine manifested.”
Papoli had moved to Newport Beach six months before her death — around the time the couple separated.
“She was so full of inspiration and optimism at this moment of her life,” Navid Goodarzi told the L.A. Times.