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Butcher ‘tried to suffocate baby’ before stabbing

He was as cold-blooded as they come.

The madman who murdered his cousin’s wife and their four young children tried unsuccessfully to smother the youngest of his victims — a 1-year-old baby — before resorting to the meat cleaver he had already used to butcher the rest of the family, The Post has learned.

“He said, ‘I first tried to suffocate him with a blanket and that didn’t work so I chopped him, too,’” a law-enforcement source said.

Mingdong Chen, 25, first butchered mom Qiaozhen Li, 37, and older son Kevin, 5, in a front family room inside their Sunset Park apartment on Saturday.

“The mom had fingers amputated from her hand,” the source said. “She may have been shielding her son.”

Chen said he then moved on to the back bedroom where he allegedly killed Linda, 9, Amy, 7, and little William, 1.

“He did the baby last,” the source said.

The illegal alien from China slashed and hacked his victims all over their bodies and also cut their throats – but did not actually decapitate anyone, the source said.

Chen used a meat cleaver about a foot long for the savage attacks.

The transient was slapped Monday with charges that include first-degree murder. He did not speak in court and was held without bail. He will next appear in court on Friday.