NYC friends of art dealer murdered in Brazil shocked by his secret ‘lifestyle’ as details emerge of his bitter divorce battle with former escort husband – who demanded $6 MILLION to let him see his son again
The friends of a renowned New York City art dealer who was brutally murdered in Brazil have expressed shock as details of his turbulent lifestyle emerged.
Brent Sikkema, 75, was found stabbed to death in his Rio de Janeiro home on January 15, while his Cuban former bodyguard Alejandro Triana Prevez, 30, was charged with murder.
It has since emerged that Sikkema, owner Sikkema Jenkins & Co in Chelsea, was going through a bitter divorce battle with his Cuban husband Daniel Garcia Carrera, a 53-year-old former escort with whom he shared a son.
The battle had been raging since March 2022 and Garcia Carrera had reportedly demanded $6 million to allow Sikkema to see their son. According to the Brazilian authorities, Sikkema is said to be ‘in panic’ because Garcia would not accept an amicable settlement.
Garcia reportedly issued a court order preventing him from seeing their 14-year-old son — and Brent spent a night in a New York City jail after disobeying the order, as reported by Folha de São Paulo.
Brent Sikkema, 75, was found stabbed to death in his home in Rio de Janeiro on January 15
The art dealer’s Cuban bodyguard, Alejandro Triana Prevez, 30, is charged with murder
Chelsea owner Sikkema Jenkins & Co was waging a bitter divorce battle with his Cuban husband Daniel Garcia Carrera, a 53-year-old former escort with whom he shared a son.
But longtime friends and clients of Sikkema told the New York Post that they had no idea of the art dealer’s turbulent personal life, and that he never spoke about his husband for more than a decade.
“He was a kind soul, but I had no idea about his lifestyle,” one longtime customer told the Post.
Police have not suggested that Garcia is involved in Sikkema’s murder. However, they have previously said they want to know more about Triana’s relationship with Garcia. Triana worked as a bodyguard for the couple during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sikkema and Garcia married via a surrogate mother shortly before the birth of their son, but it is not clear when their relationship began.
Garcia published a memoir in 2006 titled “Ticket to Paradise: The Cuban Revolution is the Story of Broken Dreams, Loss, Misery, Terror and Lies.”
In the book, Garcia admits that he worked as a male prostitute in Cuba and Spain and that he took up this profession to escape Castro’s communism. He left the island in 1997.
DailyMail.com was able to obtain surveillance camera footage from Gabriel Security Company that showed Triana allegedly inspecting Sikkema’s home the day before the murder.
Authorities say Triana watched the house for 14 hours before entering and stabbing Sikkema in the neck and face 18 times while he lay in bed. The alleged killer may have used scissors, a box cutter or a screwdriver in the gruesome attack, Art Forum reports.
Brazilian police also say Triana stole $30,000, 30,000 Brazilian reals ($6,078) and a gold chain from Sikkema’s home.
The suspect was arrested on Thursday after he was found sleeping in a car at a petrol station in Ureaba, Minas Gerais, 980 kilometers from the Jardim Botânico murder scene.
Brent Sikkema, a prominent New York City art gallery owner, with former First Lady Michelle Obama
Triana’s lawyer Gregorio Andrade has said the suspect has brought “more information that we cannot yet reveal publicly.”
Andrade told The Post: “’The story of what actually happened is much more shocking.’
Sikkema reportedly recently bought a second home in Rio de Janeiro’s Leblon neighborhood and kept the money in his home to buy new furniture.
The prominent art gallery owner was director of exhibitions at the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester in 1971.
He later served as director of Vision Gallery in Boston from 1976 to 1980 and as owner from 1980 to 1989.
Sikkema, who often collaborated with the likes of Michelle Obama, founded his New York City art gallery in 1991 as Wooster Gardens in Soho. In 1999, the art gallery was moved to its current location in Chelsea.
He had traveled to Rio de Janeiro in December for the holidays and was scheduled to return to New York the day after his murder.