The estranged husband of a celebrated New York City gallery owner is facing the death penalty on charges he hired a hitman to murder of his multimillionaire spouse in Brazil, federal authorities revealed.
Dual American-Cuban citizen Daniel Sikkema, 54, is accused of offering money to Cuban national Alejandro Triana, 31, to kill Manhattan art gallery owner Brent Sikkema, 75, last year.
Triana allegedly broke into Sikkema’s townhouse in the Rio de Janeiro neighborhood of Jardim Botânico on January 14, 2024, and stabbed him 18 times in the chest and face.
Daniel Sikkema appeared in a federal Manhattan court Tuesday and was charged with conspiracy to commit a murder-for-hire, conspiracy to murder a person in a foreign county and murder-for-hire.
The Cuban-born suspect could face life in prison or death.
Court records show that Daniel Sikkema reached out to Triana in 2023 and offered him money to carry out the hit against Brent Sikkema while the couple were in the middle of a messy divorce.
Daniel Sikkema is accused of using fake names and third parties to funnel the payments to Triana to avoid suspicion.
Surveillance camera footage obtained by DailyMail.com showed Triana waiting for Brent Sikkema to arrive at the residence.
New York City resident Daniel Sikkema (left) has been charged with the hiring of man in Brazil who murdered his husband, Manhattan art gallery owner Brent Sikkema (right), on January 14, 2024, federal authorities revealed Tuesday
Cuban national Alejandro Triana met the Sikkemas while doing handyman work for them in the communist Caribbean island. The 31-year-old migrated to Brazil, where he applied for refugee status. Triana was allegedly paid by fellow countryman and New York City resident, Daniel Sikkema, to murder his husband, Brent Sikkema
Triana told Brazilian law enforcement that Daniel Sikkema was not pleased with the amount of money he was offered in the divorce settlement and that he was worried that Brent Sikkema’s relationship with ‘a Uruguayan or a Paraguayan’ man would possibly dictate how the couple’s assets would be split.
Triana met the couple in Cuba and worked for them as a handyman at their properties in the communist island. He told investigators that Daniel Sikkema was also upset over Brent Sikkema spending habits ‘on drugs, parties and prostitutes.’
Surveillance camera footage showed that Triana started monitoring Brent Sikkema’s home on January 13 around 2:30 pm.
He walked into the residence on January 14 at 3:43am with a key that Daniel Sikkema allegedly mailed him from the United States.
Triana could be seen exiting the home at 3:47am and removing gloves before he drove away.
Simone Nunes, a lawyer and friend of Brent Sikkema, who watched after the property while he was away from Brazil, discovered him dead January 15 after visiting the home because she was concerned he was not answering her phone calls and text messages.
An autopsy report showed Triana stabbed the Brent Sikkema 18 times, mostly in the neck and chest. He was arrested January 15 after police found him sleeping in a car in Ureaba, a city in the southern state of Minas Gerais, which borders Bolivia.
Brazilian authorities said Triana stole $30,000 as well as 30,000 Brazilian reals ($6,078) and a gold chain from Brent Sikkema’s home.
Cuban national Alejandro Triana told Brazilian authorities that Daniel Sikkema did not approve of the divorce settlement amount that Brent Sikkema had offered. Triana said the Daniel Sikkema was worried that Brent Sikkema’s relationship with ‘a Uruguayan or a Paraguayan’ man would possibly dictate how the couple’s assets would be split
Brent Sikkema co-owned the contemporary art gallery Sikkema Jenkins & Co. in New York City
New York City prominent art gallery owner Brent Sikkema with former First Lady Michelle Obama
Triana initially told investigators that he was not involved in Brent Sikkema’s killing just days following his apprehension, but then confessed after he met with his defense team and the police in late January and noticed that the authorities had sufficient evidence linking him to the gruesome murder.
At the time of the murder, Nunes, told news outlet O Globo that Brent Sikkema had applied for permanent residency in Brazil and was looking at moving from New York.
Brent Sikkema, who fathered 13-year-old Lucas Sikkema with Daniel Sikkema, was born in Morrison, Illinois, and graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute.
The prominent art gallery owner was the director of exhibitions at Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester in 1971. He then served as the director of Vision Gallery in Boston from 1976 to 1980 and was its owner from 1980 to 1989.
Brent Sikkema founded his New York City art gallery in 1991 as Wooster Gardens in Soho and it was moved to a location in Chelsea in 1999
Daniel Sikkema was previously arrested by federal agents in March 2024 on a passport fraud charge.
A court document filed by the FBI agent in charge of the investigation found that he ‘willfully and knowingly’ lied on an application for a lost passport he submitted for the couple’s son.
The application was submitted around February 8, three weeks after the murder.