Inmates Use A/C Vents to Conceive Baby Without Ever Meeting in Person

Daisy Link, 29, and Joan Depaz, 24, are both facing separate murder charges in Miami-Dade County. While awaiting trial at the Gurner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, the two inmates began communicating through the air conditioning vents in their cells. Despite the unusual circumstances, they quickly formed a close bond.

Link told news reporters she and Depaz spent most of their days in jail talking to each other through the vents.

"Being isolated for so long, you end up spending hours talking to this person. It gets to the point where it almost feels like you're in the same room together," Link explained.

During one of their many vent conversations, Depaz confided in Link about his desire to have a child. However, given that he was incarcerated on a first-degree murder charge, he knew he’d never have the chance to raise a family. He told Daisy that, if given the opportunity, he would choose her to be the mother of his child. That was all the encouragement Link needed. Before long, the two had developed a plan to conceive.

Daisy and Joan conceived using the same air vent system that initially brought them together. Over the course of a month, Joan took special care to wrap his seminal fluid in plastic wrap five times a day. He would roll it up "almost like a cigarette," attaching it to a line that Daisy pulled through to her cell.

Daisy Link Pregnancy

Once the semen reached her, Daisy used yeast infection applicators to insert the fluid into her body. After a few attempts, she found out she was pregnant. Link told her family the news via a phone call in December 2023, two years after she arrived at jail. She told her family she began asking for pregnancy tests in November, but staff ignored her requests until December.

On June 19, 2024, Daisy gave birth to a healthy baby girl who lives with Depaz's mother.

Jail officials were initially concerned about how Link had become pregnant and suspected she might have been sexually assaulted by an inmate or staff member. However, DNA tests later confirmed that Joan Depaz was the father of the baby.

In an interview with WSVN, Daisy admitted she was surprised the plan had worked, but expressed hope for their daughter’s future. “Everything happened for a reason,” she said. She also told the news station she believes her daughter will be someone important one day.

A medical doctor said while conception using this method is not impossible, it is extremely rare.

Dr. Fernando Akerman tld WSVN, “We estimate that probably their chances were less than five percent, but that is not to say that the chances were zero. So this is absolutely a case that is exceedingly unusual. To my knowledge I’ve never heard or read anything like this.”

Link Second-Degree Murder Was "Domestic Related"

After the incident, Depaz was transferred to the Meterowest Detention Center, where he is awaiting trial. Despite the separation, the couple continues to stay in touch through phone calls and video chats with their daughter.

Link's attorney says her second-degree murder charge is related to a domestic violence incident and she feared for her life.

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