HEBRON – The first inkling that Patricia Valeriani knew something wasn’t quite right was when a neighbor called her Monday night and asked, “Is everything all right?”

Valeriani, 56, of Hebron said Tuesday she didn’t know what to do when she heard her name on television newscasts linking her to a shooting death in Naples and seeing her name splashed on the front pages of newspapers.

The problem is, Patricia Valeriani of Hebron is not the Patricia Valeriani who police say fatally shot her estranged husband at his home in Naples on Monday. That Valeriani is a 46-year-old former seasonal worker for the Migis Lodge on Sebago Lake in South Casco who filed for divorce from her husband last month after 25 years of marriage.

“What do I do? I’m constantly in the public eye in three counties. I do fundraising,” said the well-known Valeriani of Hebron. She works in Androscoggin, Oxford and Franklin counties as community relations coordinator for the nonprofit Child Health Center on Main Street in Norway.

The center offers developmental therapy, preschool, parent education and the Big Brothers Big Sisters programs, among others.

With its biggest fundraiser of the year about to start in two weeks and phone calls already coming into the center from people wanting to know if the Patricia Valeriani who works there is the same woman who police said shot her husband, she said she is at a loss as to what to do.

Valeriani said her husband and son used the Web search engine Google to look up the news story after hearing about the Naples incident and what came back was not only the story but a link to the Child Health Center in Oxford and to her work there. The links on the Internet are what worry her the most, she said.

“People’s first reaction has been, ‘Oh, Patricia Valeriani.’ It’s a natural reaction,” she said.

The two Patricia Valerianis’ lives have crossed a bit over the years. The Hebron Valeriani said she was once given photos from Wal-Mart that belonged to the Naples Valeriani. Years ago, the Naples Valeriani was sent the Hebron Valeriani’s paycheck. In that case, the Naples woman called her counterpart in Hebron to return the paycheck.

“The big question is: What do people do when you lose your identity? It’s not just using a name. It affects your whole life. It’s not an isolation thing,” said Valeriani of Hebron. “It’s so overwhelming. It’s scary.”


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