Inmate Who Conceived 'Miracle' Baby via Air Vent Learns Outcome of Murder Charge

The Florida Inmate’s Unexpected Pregnancy Takes a Grim Turn in Court

A Florida inmate who gained internet fame for becoming pregnant in jail without meeting the father has now received a verdict in a murder case connected to her before her notable ‘miracle’ conception.

Daisy Link, 30, attracted global attention last year when she claimed she conceived her child with fellow inmate Joan DePaz using only an air vent and some creativity.

While held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami-Dade, the two reportedly developed a friendship by communicating through their cells’ ventilation system.

Link described how you can ‘knock’ on the vents and ‘hear people from different floors,’ noting that ‘after being in isolation for so long, you start spending hours talking’ until ‘it feels like you’re in the same room.’

However, the same woman who intrigued many with her unusual jailhouse pregnancy has been convicted of second-degree murder for the 2022 shooting of her longtime partner, Pedro Jimenez.

A jury in South Florida reached its verdict in less than two hours this week.

Daisy Link, whose pregnancy while incarcerated drew global attention, is now facing justice (CBS News)

Link had been awaiting trial for the death of Jimenez since her arrest in June 2022.

Prosecutors alleged she shot him in the leg outside her Homestead residence and left as he bled to death. Her defense argued the shooting was in self-defense after enduring years of domestic violence, claiming she had been beaten and threatened in the days before the incident.

During her testimony, she stated: “That’s the father of my kids… It’s not like I didn’t love him, I did.”

Her 11-year-old son also testified remotely, saying he witnessed Jimenez aiming a gun at his mother and missing before hitting her with it.

However, the jurors ultimately agreed with the prosecutors. One juror told reporters, as reported by the New York Post: “If he’s running away and she shot him in the back, it doesn’t seem much like self-defense if he’s running away.”

The case had already attracted national attention after Link gave birth to a baby girl on June 19, 2024, conceived while she was in custody. Link claimed she inseminated herself with semen passed through a vent in plastic, using yeast infection applicators.

DePaz, who is still imprisoned on his own murder charge, described the conception as ‘like the Virgin Mary’.

Pedro Jimenez was the central victim in Daisy Link's murder case (CBS News)

Dr. Fernando Akerman, the medical director at the Fertility Center of Miami, described the pregnancy as ‘an exceedingly rare case’, estimating the chances at ‘less than five percent’.

Link is scheduled to return to court on November 21 for pre-sentencing, facing several years in prison, the same place where her ‘miracle baby’ story began.

When speaking to CBS News, Link’s sister, Crystal Barretto, is hopeful that the circumstances might lead to the judge giving her a reduced sentence. She stated: “I hope the judge considers all the evidence presented, the past domestic violence history involving Pedro and Daisy, and the time she's already served.

"And also takes into account her children and the new baby that was just born."