Grieving NYPD widow’s Mother’s Day gift is ‘miracle baby’ who keeps husband’s memory alive

Every Mother’s Day, Pei Xia Chen gets a present from her late NYPD detective husband Wenjian Liu: their daughter Angelina. 

The effervescent eight-year-old was born via artificial insemination about two and a half years after her father was murdered – using sperm harvested on his deathbed.

“She’s truly my miracle baby,” Chen, 44, told The Post.

“What makes it even more special is how much she reminds me of her father, Wenjian. Every time I look at her, I see a part of him still living on through her,” the widow said. 

Liu, 32, and his partner Detective Rafael Ramos, 40, were murdered while on patrol on Dec. 20, 2014 by cop-hating career criminal Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley, who gunned down the pair as they sat in a marked squad car in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Brinsley — who was wanted in Baltimore for shooting his ex-girlfriend in the stomach earlier that day — then fatally shot himself in the head. 

Liu and Chen, who met through mutual friends, had only been married for three months before he was killed.

For as long as they had been together – seven years – he always wanted children. 

“Even before we were married, Wenjian always wanted to be a father,” she said. “I wanted to make sure his dream came true.

“When I learned that my husband could not be saved, my very first thought was that I could not allow his dream to die with him.”

She was already familiar with sperm retrieval and IVF procedures, Chen said, and immediately asked if Liu’s sperm could be preserved.

That night, she dreamt of Liu, showing her their newborn baby, she recalled.

“I had a vivid dream. Wenjian was dressed completely in white and gently handed me a small bundle wrapped in a white blanket,” Chen said.

“He looked at me and said, ‘This is our daughter.’”

Dr. Peter Schlegel removed some of Liu’s sperm at the Office of Chief Medical Examiner the following morning. After her dream, Chen was even more confident she made the right decision.

Angelina – who shares her father’s smile and warm personality – is who keeps Chen strong, especially during the holidays when she thinks of her husband the most. 

“Every holiday there’s sadness,” she said while choking up at her Dyker Heights home. “Wenjian should be here with us.

“But the pain is softened because I have Angelina,” she continued, calling her daughter “my greatest treasure and the greatest gift God has given me.”

The Catholic school third grader loves swimming, singing and playing the piano and clarinet. She wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up — Chen knows Liu would be proud of the charismatic little girl. 

While Angelina was robbed of ever getting to know her father, Chen makes sure to keep his memory alive and give her daughter the life she deserves.

“Angelina will always be my miracle baby, my living connection to Wenjian,” said Chen, a stay at home mom. “My focus is on raising her and honoring my husband’s memory and giving Angelina the happiest and most loving life possible.

“I am simply grateful every day for the blessing of having Angelina in my life.”