Adriana Alvarez GoFundMe raises over $29,000 as community rallies around NYC mom injured protecting daughter from alleged abductor

The community is rallying behind New York mom Adriana Alvarez, who was severely injured while protecting her eldest daughter from an alleged abductor. Hundreds of people have donated to a GoFundMe campaign organized by a family member to render financial assistance to the intrepid mom of two as she recovers from her injuries sustained while fighting off her daughter’s attacker.

The campaign, which has raised over $29,000, surpassing the initial target of $5,000, said the incident unfolded on January 23, 2024, in Astoria, New York, but was picked up by multiple websites over the weekend after the doorbell camera footage of the attack went viral online.

The fundraiser said on January 23, 2024, Adriana Alvarez’s 18-year-old daughter was returning to their apartment after walking her dogs when a 25-year-old assailant known to the victim jumped her from behind before forcibly dragging her down the stairs.

Adriana Alvarez, who heard her daughter’s cries for help, sprinted to her daughter’s rescue and fought off the attacker. She sustained a fractured orbital bone, a fractured elbow, and a broken shoulder while preventing the abduction attempt. The fundraiser said:

“This page is to help with hospital bills, rent and home bills while Adriana recovers from her injuries enough to go back to work."

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Adriana Alvarez says suspect George Vassiliou worked alongside her daughter at C-Town Supermarket

The New York Post, who obtained the doorbell camera footage of the attack, identified the assailant as George Vassiliou, who reportedly worked at a deli department in C-Town Supermarket on 34th Avenue in Astoria alongside the victim.

Adriana Alvarez told the Post that Vassiliou quit working at the supermarket after her daughter rejected his advances and then proceeded to stalk her in weeks leading up to the attack.

“She said ‘No,’ and he quit his job and started stalking her. We had a restraining order against him, because he’d tried twice to grab her off the street — before this happened.”

The video obtained by the post and shared on multiple outlets showed Adriana’s daughter returning to their fourth-floor apartment on 43rd Street, following a morning walk with their two dogs when a masked man in a camouflage jacket identified as George Vassiliou lying in wait for the victim emerged from a staircase.

The suspect then begins dragging the victim down the stairs before Alvarez bolts out into the hallway and down the stairs after hearing her daughter scream for help. Alvarez is then seen fighting the suspect, who pummeled her in the face before pepper spraying both the victim and her mother.

Undeterred by the pain, Alvarez continues to fight off the attacker before screaming for help, prompting a neighbor to bolt out of the apartment with a stick.

The neighbor then continued to hit the suspect while Alvarez pushed her daughter inside her neighbor’s apartment and attempted to close the door. The relentless suspect then blocks the door from closing with his foot before grabbing the girl.

The mother and daughter eventually manage to escape the assailant and run outside the building and call for help. The suspect, who chased them out, was then restrained by other neighbors until police arrived at the scene.

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The post, citing a police source, said the suspect who rented a car the night before the attempted abduction had a bag containing rope, sleeping pills, melatonin, and tampons inside the vehicle.

Vassiliou was charged with attempted kidnapping, assault, weapon possession, unlawful possession of noxious matter, harassment, and violating an order of protection.

The GoFundMe said Adriana Alvarez, an aesthetician, is a small business owner in Astoria.