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Murder-accused inmates reveal how they got pregnant behind bars – without meeting in person

Joan Depaz and Daisy Link are both behind bars in Miamai-Dade County

Kelly Rissman
Thursday 21 November 2024 16:56 EST
Joan Depaz, 24, and Daisy Link, 29, had a baby while behind bars without ever meeting face-to-face
Joan Depaz, 24, and Daisy Link, 29, had a baby while behind bars without ever meeting face-to-face (Miami-Dade Corrections)

Daisy Link has been behind bars on a second-degree murder charge since 2022 — but she mysteriously became pregnant by another inmate.

Both Link, 29, and Joan Depaz, 24, were being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami-Dade County, Florida on separate murder charges. They say they have never met in person but managed to have a baby together.

Link called their child “a miracle baby” and Depaz called her conception “like the Virgin Mary,” they told WSVN, before explaining how it happened.

The two inmates started talking and forming a relationship, they told the outlet.

“Being in isolation for so long you begin to spend hours and hours talking to this person, you know, to the point where it’s almost as if you’re in the same room with them,” Link said.

Daisy Link, 29, had a baby with a fellow inmate without ever meeting in person while she is being held on a second-degree murder charge
Daisy Link, 29, had a baby with a fellow inmate without ever meeting in person while she is being held on a second-degree murder charge (Miami-Dade Corrections)

Depaz recalled telling her: “I always really wanted to have a baby. And I’m not gonna get to do that for a really long time. So if I had to choose somebody, you know, it would be you.”

From there, they hatched a plan to try for a baby. “This is gonna go down in history,” Depaz thought at the time.

When asked how she became pregnant while awaiting trial in prison, Link said it happened “through the vent.”

“You would knock on it and you can hear the people from the different floors. You would stand on the toilet actually to be able to talk to them,” the 29-year-old told the outlet via phone call.

Joan Depaz, 24, is being held on a first-degree murder charge
Joan Depaz, 24, is being held on a first-degree murder charge (Miami-Dade Corrections)

The pair soon figured out that Link could drop something from her vent and it would land in his vent, Depaz said. He put his semen in Saran wrap “every day like five times a day” for one month straight.

“He would kind of roll it up almost like a cigarette and he would attach it to the line that we had in the vent and I would pull it through,” Link said. She then placed it inside “yeast infection applicators” and “administered it.”

She became pregnant after a few tries, she said. Dr. Fernando Akerman, medical director of the Fertility Center of Miami, told WSVN that while the chances of conceiving this way are slim, it is possible.

The baby was born on June 19. The now-five-month-old is living with Depaz’s mother, the outlet reported.

“I can’t believe it worked. I think everything happened for a reason,” Link said. “She could be anything. I think that she’s gonna be something great.”

She added: “It’s a real twist it, it is. Everybody says it to me: ‘This is like some Lifetime Movie Network.’”

The couple are now being held at separate facilities. Depaz, who faces a first-degree murder charge, is being held at Metrowest Detention Center while Link, who faces a second-degree murder charge, is still at Turner Guilford Knight, records show. They still talk on the phone, WSVN reported, and have video calls with their child.

Miami-Dade Corrections is reportedly conducting an internal investigation into the incident. The Independent has reached out for comment.

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