SHE HAD STARTED TO DISAPPEAR FROM HER FAMILY’S LIFE — THEN EVERYTHING CHANGED

For years, Pamela Cisneros’ family had watched her struggle through a painful and complicated chapter of her life.

Her husband filed for divorce in 2020.

The marriage was not officially dissolved until 2025.

During those years, Pamela faced serious personal difficulties and a documented history of mental-health problems. Yet according to her family, there were also long periods when she appeared to be doing better.

She earned a master’s degree in psychology and worked on and off at an immigration law office. She lived alone in Queens and remained connected to her parents and siblings.

From the outside, it could have looked like she was trying to rebuild her life.

But then, something changed.

THE FAMILY STARTED NOTICING HER ABSENCE

Pamela had been a familiar presence around her family.

Her brother Patrick Peralta said she regularly came over for dinner, often spending time with their mother and stepfather.

But in the days before the Times Square attack, Pamela stopped showing up.

Her family became concerned because she missed one of their regular gatherings — something they said was unusual for her.

The next time they saw Pamela was not at a family dinner.

It was on television.

Police say that on August 31, 49-year-old Pamela Cisneros approached two strangers in Times Square carrying two knives.

A 68-year-old man was attacked first.

Seconds later, 32-year-old Bank of America vice president Erin Piacenti was also attacked.

Piacenti later died at a hospital. The older man survived.

THE WOMAN HER FAMILY THOUGHT WAS DOING BETTER

What makes the timeline so haunting is what Pamela’s family believed they were seeing before that day.

Her brother said she had appeared stable for several years and had been receiving treatment.

He also said he had never known her to be aggressive.

That makes what happened in Times Square even harder for her family to understand.

Police have described the attack as random and unprovoked, and authorities have not publicly established a clear motive.

Pamela was eventually confronted by officers.

Police said she refused repeated commands to drop the knives and continued advancing toward them. Officers deployed Tasers, but when those efforts failed, two officers fired their weapons.

Pamela was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where she died.

AND THEN CAME THE QUESTIONS

Why had Pamela stopped appearing at family gatherings?

What had happened during the final days before the attack?

And was there something her family could not see?

Those questions may never have simple answers.

Her family has spoken about years of mental-health struggles, but there is no evidence establishing that mental illness alone caused the attack.

What is known is that Pamela’s final days looked different to the people closest to her.

She had become less visible.

She missed family gatherings.

And then, on a busy Manhattan afternoon, a woman her family remembered as someone who had seemed stable became the central figure in a tragedy that claimed the life of a young mother.

Erin Piacenti was 32. She had recently returned from maternity leave and was raising her five-month-old daughter with her husband.

One family lost a daughter and sister.

Another lost a wife and mother.

And behind the headlines, one unanswered question remains:

What happened to Pamela Cisneros in those final days that her family never got to see?