Son grieves death of mother after her body was found down embankment in Crestline

Investigators have positively identified the body found off the side of the road in Crestline last month as a woman reported missing out of Newport Beach -- but they say they still have no idea what happened to her.

Aryan Papoli, 58, was found about 75 feet down a steep embankment near Highway 138 and Crestline Road on Nov. 18.

"It's hard, it's really hard," said Navid Goodarzi about the loss of his mother. "This is a nightmare scenario.

"It's really weird with a case like this. I was morbidly joking that I understand why someone says, 'At least they passed in their sleep.' There's a reason they say that."

Goodarzi lives in Boston, where he is studying for his master's degree. He said it had been a few weeks since he talked to Papoli when he learned she'd been reported missing.

"The semester sort of gets out of hand; you wish you could call, and a week goes by, and two weeks go by, and then you get the news that she's missing," Goodarzi said.

"At first, everyone in my family was trying to stay optimistic," he said. "I was going to go to a close friend's Thanksgiving, but I knew I couldn't go with all of this happening in my family."

When a body was first discovered in Crestline, at first the San Bernardino County sheriff's department were unable to identify it and released a composite sketch of the face.

Then two days after Thanksgiving, Goodarzi received notice from the sheriff's department that the victim was indeed his mother Aryan Papoli.

"When she was missing, we were sort of going from this frantic pass, all engines flaring, like how can we find her?" Goodarzi 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."

The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department is investigating Popoli's death, but they're not saying whether they suspect foul play.

Goodarzi has set up a website dedicated to his mother's memory at www.aryanpapoli.net.

"She loved people; she loved animals; she loved art," Goodarzi said. "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; built a life; built a family.

"She was on the board of the Fowler Museum at UCLA, on the board of the South Coast Botanic Garden. And in all of those positions she wanted to make this accessible to everyone, because she knew the importance of creativity and the ability to express yourself as a child."