Erin Piacenti had reached a milestone familiar to many new parents on Aug. 31: her first day back at work after maternity leave.

The 32-year-old Bank of America vice president had welcomed her first child, a baby girl, only five months earlier. She and her husband, Frank Piacenti, had also recently begun a new chapter outside New York City after moving into a home in Chester, New Jersey.

That Monday afternoon, Erin finished her first day back at the office and started heading home to her family.

She never made it.

Shortly before 4:30 p.m. in Times Square, police say 49-year-old Pamela Cisneros approached Piacenti and stabbed her in the abdomen in what authorities described as an apparently unprovoked attack. Piacenti died from her injuries.

The timing has made an already devastating case even more difficult for those who knew her.

A new mother had returned to her career after months at home with her daughter.

Hours later, she was gone.

She Had Just Become a Mother

Only five months before the attack, Erin and Frank welcomed their daughter.

A photograph posted to social media just days before the incident showed Erin smiling while holding the baby beside her husband — an ordinary family image that has taken on heartbreaking significance in light of what happened next.

The couple had also recently moved from Manhattan’s Upper East Side to Chester, about 40 miles west of New York City.

It was another sign of a family moving forward.

They had a newborn.

A new home.

And Erin was returning to a career she had built at one of the country’s largest financial institutions.

Piacenti worked as a vice president in Bank of America’s business selection and conflicts division. On Aug. 31, she completed her first workday following maternity leave and was leaving for home when she was attacked.

Police Say the Attack Was Unprovoked

According to police, there was no known dispute between Piacenti and the woman accused of attacking her.

Authorities said Cisneros allegedly approached Piacenti and stabbed her in the abdomen.

But Piacenti was not the first person attacked that afternoon.

Moments earlier, police say Cisneros had stabbed another person, 68-year-old Tak Kam, after he came out of the subway.

Kam was visiting New York to see his son.

He was taken to Bellevue Hospital and was expected to recover.

The sequence of events unfolded rapidly in one of the busiest parts of Manhattan.

NYPD officers who were already nearby quickly moved toward Cisneros after the attacks.

What happened next turned the situation into an even larger confrontation.

The Confrontation With Police

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said officers surrounded Cisneros and repeatedly ordered her to put down the knives.

She refused.

According to Tisch, Cisneros threatened the officers and continued holding two knives.

Video from the area showed her waving the weapons and then advancing toward police.

Officers first attempted to stop her using a Taser.

When that effort failed, officers opened fire.

Cisneros was transported to Bellevue Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The knives were recovered, and the NYPD Force Investigation Division began reviewing the officers’ use of force.

The officers involved were also taken to a hospital for evaluation.

What Police Knew About Cisneros

Authorities said Cisneros did not have an arrest record.

However, according to Commissioner Tisch, she did have a documented history of prior mental-health-related encounters with the NYPD.

Police records included incidents in 2019 and 2020.

PEOPLE reported that the 2019 encounter involved public intoxication, while the 2020 incident concerned a possible suicide attempt.

Those previous encounters do not by themselves explain what happened in Times Square years later.

Police described the attacks on Piacenti and Kam as unprovoked, and investigators continued examining the circumstances surrounding the violence.

For Piacenti’s family, however, the investigative questions come after an irreversible loss.

Bank of America Remembered a “Valued Teammate”

After Piacenti’s death, Bank of America issued a statement mourning one of its own.

The company described her as a valued teammate and expressed condolences to her family and loved ones.

Her professional life was only one side of the woman colleagues and friends were mourning.

Piacenti had also studied at Fordham Law School, where she met the man who would become her husband.

Following her death, the school sent a message to alumni remembering her as a cherished member of its community.

Fordham’s dean highlighted her intelligence and dedication as well as the warmth and generosity she showed toward other students.

Those descriptions reveal a life that extended far beyond the details of the crime now attached to her name.

Before she became the victim in a Times Square headline, Erin was a wife, new mother, lawyer and colleague beginning another stage of her life.

The Detail That Makes the Timing So Painful

For many people following the case, one fact has stood out above nearly everything else.

It was her first day back.

Returning to work after maternity leave can be emotional even under ordinary circumstances.

Parents leave a baby after months of daily routines together and begin adjusting again to commutes, work schedules and time apart.

Erin had made it through that first day.

By late afternoon, she was heading home.

Her daughter was only five months old.

That detail transforms what might otherwise be reported simply as another act of random violence.

Piacenti was not just walking through Times Square.

She was on her way back to the family waiting for her at the end of a major day in their lives.

A Future That Had Just Begun

The months leading up to Aug. 31 had apparently been filled with beginnings.

A first child.

A new home.

A return to work.

At 32, Erin Piacenti was still in the middle of building both a family and a career.

The attack ended that future in a matter of moments.

The investigation can establish a timeline.

Police can reconstruct where Cisneros went, when the first stabbing occurred and how officers responded afterward.

But those facts cannot capture the part of this story that has resonated most painfully.

Five months earlier, Erin Piacenti had become a mother.

On Aug. 31, she returned to Bank of America for the first time since having her daughter.

She completed her workday.

Then she started the journey home.

It should have been the end of her first day back.

Instead, it became the last day of her life.