Brent Sikkema killing: Suspect claims Manhattan art dealer's estranged husband offered $200K for murder

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL: The suspect in the brutal murder of Brent Sikkema, co-founder of Sikkema Jenkins & Co, told Brazilian police that the Manhattan art dealer’s estranged husband ordered the hit and offered him $200,000 to finish the crime, according to Brazilian Press Reports.

Alejandro Triana Prevez, 30, told authorities that Daniel Carrera Sikkema, 53, ordered the January murder of 75-year-old Brent Sikkema.

What happened to Brent Sikkema? 

The gallerist, whose Chelsea firm represents artists Vik Muniz and Kara Walker, among others, was found dead in his Rio de Janeiro row house on January 15 with 18 stab wounds to his face, chest, and throat, according to police.

The Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper first published the statement alleging Carrera's involvement on Thursday, February 8. The newspaper also stated that Rio's Public Ministry has ordered that Carrera, who resides in Manhattan with the couple's 14-year-old son, be placed under urgent custodial confinement.

A biography about his escape from the Communist island written by Carrera in the late 1990s claims that he was born in Cuba and that, before his marriage to Sikkema 15 years ago, he worked as a male prostitute in Havana and Madrid.

“When the victim questioned the building management, they told him they had orders not to let the victim back into the apartment,” according to a report.

Sikkema surrendered to the police on April 14, 2023.  He was arrested and spent a night in prison, according to a source who did not want to be identified.

According to the New York Post, the couple was engaged in a drawn-out divorce dispute that started in March 2022 and was still going strong when Sikkema died, court documents revealed.

Rio police claim that Carrera had requested $6 million to grant Sikkema access to the couple's son. Carrera called the police shortly after filing for divorce in March 2022, claiming that following a furious altercation, Sikkema had changed the locks on their Chelsea apartment door.

"Danny just hounded the police officer, worked on him emotionally to have him arrest Brent,” said the source, who knew the couple. “The whole thing was ridiculous and the district attorney ended up apologizing to Brent,” they added.

Brent Sikkema visited bathhouses in Rio de Janeiro

According to Triana, a Cuban national who said he had worked for both Carrera and Sikkema in Cuba, Carrera couriered him a key to enter Sikkema’s Rio home, the Brazilian press reported.

Video footage from a nearby property was made public by Rio police, who claim it shows Triana watching Sikkema's home in the city's Botanical Gardens district for 14 hours before the murder before going inside.

Reporters were informed by Rio's Homicide Bureau that there was "no doubt" that the crime was planned. They claimed that during the attack, the suspect not only kept an eye on the victim but also turned on the air conditioner "to attract less attention" in the neighborhood.

A day before Sikkema was supposed to return to Rio de Janeiro, his longtime Rio attorney discovered his remains.

According to the investigation, Brent informed his driver he was going on a date during his final discussion with Martins. It also states that Brent frequently visited bathhouses in Rio de Janeiro to pick up young male prostitutes. The Rio police report quoted the driver as saying, "He preferred them young."

“The driver told Brent not to bring prostitutes to his apartment because it was too dangerous,” the police report said. “Brent told the driver that he had met a guy before Christmas and was madly in love.”