Two Miami prison inmates in separate cells decide to have a baby without ever meeting face-to-face. Disturbingly, it worked

In what seems like an impossible story, two inmates at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami-Dade County managed to have a child together even though they were kept in separate cells and never met in person. Joan Depaz, 24, and Daisy Link, 30, are both locked up for murder charges. They started a relationship through a strange way of talking to each other that led to the birth of their daughter in June 2024.

The unusual love story started when Depaz and Link began talking through the air conditioning vents in their cells. Link told Miami Fox affiliate WSVN that inmates would stand on toilets to reach the vents and talk to people on different floors. They could knock on the vents to get someone’s attention and talk for hours. The two also passed notes and photos through the air system, building what Link called a close connection even though they couldn’t see each other.

When Depaz told Link he wanted to have a baby, knowing he might not get the chance for many years because he was in jail, Link said yes. Depaz explained that he put his semen in Saran Wrap several times a day for about a month. He would roll it up like a cigarette and tie it to a line made from bedding material. Link would then pull it through the L-shaped air vent system into her cell. She used yeast infection applicators to put the samples inside herself.

This whole thing actually happened

The couple’s plan, while very unlikely to work, ended up with a real pregnancy. Dr. Fernando Akerman, medical director of the Fertility Center of Miami, told local news that the chances were probably less than five percent, but they were not zero. The baby girl was born at Jackson Memorial Hospital on June 19, 2024, and is now living with Depaz’s mother. Both parents talk to their daughter through phone calls and video visits.

Miami-Dade Corrections started looking into what happened after they found out. The investigation backed up what the inmates said happened but raised big questions about security problems. According to records that WSVN got, the jail has made changes to stop this from happening again. 

Officials put in new rules to limit access to applicators and moved inmates around so male and female prisoners are not on floors where their vents connect. While this case is shocking, it joins a list of 5 shocking true crime cases you’ve probably never heard of that have surprised investigators over the years.

Link is waiting for her trial for second-degree murder in the 2022 shooting death of her husband, Pedro Jimenez. Her lawyer says she acted in self-defense after being abused at home. Depaz admitted to second-degree murder earlier this year and got 25 years in state prison. He is not in county jail anymore.

The case got attention across the country when the story came out in November 2024. Link called her daughter a miracle baby and a blessing, while Depaz compared how she was conceived to the Virgin Mary. 

Records also showed that Link had told her mother during a phone call that she thought getting pregnant might help her get out of jail and get money, though that did not happen. She is still locked up at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. The strange nature of this case is like other mysterious unsolved cases that sent us down a rabbit hole, though this one at least has answers to how it happened.