An online fundraiser to benefit the infant daughter of new mom Erin Piacenti, who was killed by a mentally ill woman amid a pair of random stabbings in Times Square, has raised nearly $1 million in just three days.
The GoFundMe campaign, which initially sought $250,000 when it was posted Wednesday, was expanded to have a goal of $1.2 million after thousands of people chipped in donations on behalf of the little girl who will never know her mother.
As of Friday afternoon, more than $800,000 had been pledged.
“As a new mom of an 8-month-old, I am heartbroken for Frank and Erin’s family,” Brianna Vogelzang, who donated $100, wrote on the GoFundMe. “May (their daughter) be surrounded forever by the people who knew and loved her mother. I am keeping (their daughter) in my prayers that she feels her mother’s love for her still, and always.”
As of Friday morning, more than 8,000 people contributed to the fundraiser, with donations varying from just a couple of dollars to thousands in contributions, with at least 16 discrete donations of more than $1,000 being made to the GoFundMe.
The single largest contribution was a $10,000 donation.
The slain mom was killed on her first day back to work after taking a five-month maternity leave following the birth of her daughter, according to the GoFundMe.
Piacenti and her husband, Frank Piacenti, had returned from a family road trip, according to the fundraiser. After weeks spent visiting Newport and Bar Harbor in Maine, and Newport, RI, the new mom and her husband were ready to settle into life with their new daughter when tragedy struck.
“Becoming a mother was Erin’s lifelong ambition, and (her daughter) gave her the greatest possible joy,” Shray Gupta said in a statement posted on GoFundMe. “Funds raised will be dedicated to supporting (her daughter) as she grows up surrounded by the family, friends, stories, and memories that will allow her to know just how remarkable her mother was.”
Erin was at W. 42nd St. and Seventh Ave. in Midtown when Pamela Cisneros, 49, stabbed her in the abdomen just seconds after she wounded a 69-year-old man standing with his wife about a block away, cops said.
Police, who confronted the alleged stabber moments after she attacked the new mom, opened fire on Cisneros following a roughly four-minute standoff when she approached officers while swinging knives she held in both hands, according to NYPD officials.
Both the stabbing victims and the suspect were taken to Bellevue Hospital, where Piacenti and her killer died, according to sources.
Cisneros had three daughters and struggled with mental illness and postpartum depression, an ongoing battle that led to multiple hospitalizations and a suicide attempt in which she threw herself on the subway tracks, her family said.
Piacenti was vice president at Bank of America’s business selection and conflicts team, where in her 18 months at the company she earned a reputation as “a trusted partner” and “a cherished teammate and friend,” according to President Matthew Koder.
She started her career as a buyer at Bloomingdale’s before moving on to the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell and then Bank of America, according to the GoFundMe.
Piacenti graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied political science and sang in an a cappella group, the Penn Dischord, according to the fundraiser.
Her solo performances — “Love Me Harder” and “Break Free” by Ariana Grande, and “Hold My Hand” by Jess Glynne — were posted to the a cappella group’s YouTube channel in 2014 and 2015.
Piacenti graduated magna cum laude from Fordham University School of Law, where she met her husband, a fellow student, and was inducted into the school’s Order of the Coif, according to a statement released by Fordham Law Dean Joseph Landau.