Two Miami inmates managed to conceive a child without ever meeting face-to-face, using an air-conditioning vent and a makeshift rope to transfer biological material between separate floors of a county jail.
Daisy Link and Joan Depaz developed a relationship while incarcerated at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami-Dade County. Both were facing murder charges when the extraordinary sequence of events began.
Although Link and Depaz were housed in different sections of the facility, they discovered that they could speak through ventilation openings connecting their cells. Their conversations reportedly became increasingly personal, eventually developing into a romantic relationship.
The pair also exchanged photographs and written notes through the ventilation system, according to their account of the incident.
Depaz eventually told Link that he wanted to have a child. The inmates then devised a plan to attempt conception despite never having any physical contact.
Depaz placed his semen inside plastic wrap and attached the package to a makeshift line fashioned from torn jail bedding. He then lowered it through the ventilation opening to the floor where Link was being held.
Link retrieved the package and used an applicator commonly intended for yeast-infection medication to inseminate herself. The pair reportedly repeated the process during Link’s ovulation window.
The unconventional plan worked.
Link learned she was pregnant in late 2023 and gave birth to a baby girl at Jackson Memorial Hospital on June 19, 2024. DNA testing subsequently confirmed Depaz was the child’s biological father.
Link described the child as a “miracle baby.” The girl was reported to be healthy and living with relatives while both parents remained incarcerated.
The pregnancy prompted immediate questions about security inside the detention center, particularly how two inmates were able to communicate and transfer items through the building’s ventilation system without being detected.
The Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department launched an internal affairs investigation after officials learned about the pregnancy. That review was completed in 2025.
Department officials said investigators found no evidence that correctional employees helped the inmates carry out the plan. Authorities nevertheless acknowledged the serious security concerns exposed by the incident and said changes were implemented to prevent similar activity.
Both inmates also faced serious criminal proceedings unrelated to the child’s conception.
Depaz was convicted of second-degree murder and is serving a 25-year prison sentence. Link was convicted of second-degree murder in October 2025 in connection with the fatal shooting of her longtime partner, Pedro Jimenez, per Trending Politics.
A judge later set aside Link’s conviction and granted her a new trial after finding that prosecutors improperly used photographs during closing arguments. Prosecutors appealed that decision, delaying the proposed retrial while the appellate dispute continues.
The case attracted international attention because Link and Depaz maintained that they never touched, kissed or shared the same room before conceiving their daughter.
Their account, the confirming DNA results and the resulting jail investigation transformed an unlikely relationship conducted through an air vent into one of the most unusual security incidents ever reported inside a US detention facility.
