A Dead Art Dealer, a Robbery Gone Wrong — Or Was It?

It's unclear whether famed New York City art dealer and gallerist Brent Sikkema was asleep in the early morning hours of January 14, 2024, when the intruder first plunged the knife into his chest.
He may have been lying in bed, initially unaware of what was happening to him—and why. He may have, instead, as a crime scene expert working with the Brazilian police suggested, stood up, approached the man in his bedroom doorway, and fought for his life. What is clear is that Sikkema's body was discovered one day later riddled with stab wounds—18 in total, according to the authorities. Sikkema's home, an upscale townhouse in Rio de Janeiro's tony Jardim Botânico neighborhood, was supposed to be his sanctuary, a world away from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan, an 'oasis,' he once said, that brought him peace—and the place where, upon his death, he wished to have his ashes scattered.
Sikkema's murder sent shockwaves throughout the fine art world, of which Sikkema, 75, was a cornerstone for more than five decades; he helped catapult a culturally diverse roster of painters, sculptors, and photographers into stardom. In the days after his death, friends and clients lauded his influence in the press and on social media. 'Brent Sikkema and I had a personal connection that went well beyond that of gallery director and exhibiting artist,' the famed artist Kara Walker said in a statement to the New York Times for Sikkema's obituary. 'He was a nurturing, protective figure to me when I was a quite young upstart. He saw in me something beyond what either of us could fully articulate, but I think we brought out the best in each other.'
At the core of the shock that followed Sikkema's murder, however, confusion festered. Details that promised a clear-cut answer to why someone chose to murder such a well-liked man were sparse. Forty thousand dollars in cash was missing from Sikkema's townhouse. Was it a robbery gone wrong? Or something more sinister? Within days the police in Rio de Janeiro announced that they had made an arrest in the case: Alejandro Triana Prevez, a Cuban national who, for a time, had worked as a security guard at one of Sikkema's homes in Cuba. The police also released security footage of someone who appeared to be Prevez monitoring Sikkema's townhouse and entering the home the night Sikkema was murdered. The police paraded Prevez in front of the press, hands cuffed in front of him, his lanky frame and gaunt features caught in the flash of cameras, a terrified look spread across his face.
To some it seemed that Prevez might have acted on his own—a crime fueled simply by greed—but over the following year another narrative emerged. Prosecutors in Brazil and the U.S. would allege that a bitter divorce—with child custody and a multimillion-dollar estate at stake—prompted Sikkema's estranged husband, Daniel Garcia Carrera, to enlist Prevez to assassinate Sikkema in cold blood. Carrera denies involvement in the murder, and both men are currently on trial in Brazil.
According to court records and his obituary in the Times, Brent Sikkema was born in rural Illinois, a stone's throw from the Iowa border, the younger of two children whose parents owned and operated a local tavern. Life in America's heartland, however, did not suit Sikkema. He moved in the 1960s to San Francisco, where he studied photography and filmmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute. He earned both a BFA and an MFA in the early 1970s and spent the next decade pursuing his own art (mainly black-and-white abstract photography) and working for prominent galleries, such as Vision Gallery in Boston. (He purchased Vision in 1980.) In 1991 Sikkema moved to New York City and hung out his shingle in the fine art hotspot of Soho, launching Wooster Gardens.
It was there that Sikkema found his niche in curation and became a pioneer in uplifting marginalized voices in the art community. He routinely featured women and people of color whose work showed cultural and political themes, including future MacArthur Fellow Walker, interdisciplinary artist William Cordova, and the Kenyan painter and sculptor Wangechi Mutu. 'If he catches some creative potential in somebody, he likes to nurture it,' says TM Davy, an artist and a close friend of Sikkema's. 'He really saw the complexity of the world, and he felt it. Art, when it touched that complexity, really sang through him. He felt an obligation to work with those artists and help tell that truth to the world.'
It was also in the 1990s that Sikkema met his longtime business partner, Michael Jenkins, who helped Sikkema transform Wooster Gardens into the international powerhouse Sikkema Jenkins & Co. (In January 2025 the business's name was changed to Sikkema Malloy Jenkins. Michael Jenkins, and the gallery, declined an interview request for this article.) The gallery not only helped discover new artists, it also cemented Chelsea, at the turn of the millennium, as the new epicenter of art in Manhattan. Sikkema's star (and those of his artists) continued to rise. A 2016 Instagram post showed him with Michelle Obama, and one of his clients, Jeffrey Gibson, became the first Indigenous artist to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale.
And yet, as Sikkema continued to celebrate professional milestones, he also married the man who would allegedly bring upon his death: Daniel Garcia Carrera.
Press reports and court records show that Sikkema first met Carrera in 2007, during a trip to Miami for Art Basel. Sparks flew, and Carrera moved into Sikkema's apartment in Manhattan. According to a self-published autobiography, Carrera grew up in poverty-stricken Cuba, was abused as a child, and had to resort to prostitution to survive—and eventually escape—the island's communist regime. When Carrera met Sikkema, who was more than 20 years his senior, he had no career or reliable source of income and, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed against Carrera by Sikkema's estate, he lived off of Sikkema's money.
Despite their lopsided financial arrangement, their love seemed to quickly blossom. In 2010 the couple had a son via surrogate, with Carrera assuming the role of father and Sikkema listed as 'mother' on the birth certificate, a bureaucratic quirk Sikkema described in an Instagram post years later. In 2013 the couple got married in New York and settled down into what could be seen as a normal relationship. Sikkema ran his namesake gallery, Carrera did the child-rearing duties, and the family enjoyed the spoils of Sikkema's success, including far-flung multimillion-dollar vacation homes in Cuba, Brazil, and Fire Island. 'Their marriage was a really beautiful thing for a really long time,' Davy says, adding that he had many fond memories of Sikkema, Carrera, and their son. Davy says that Sikkema cherished the beauty of his family unit and trusted Carrera deeply, once telling Davy that Carrera was a great father. 'That's enough to feel that someone is very lucky in life,' Davy says.
By 2019, however, according to the wrongful death suit, the marriage began to deteriorate. In the suit, which is currently stayed pending resolution of the criminal case against Carrera, Sikkema's estate claims that Carrera pitched to Sikkema that they have an open marriage, which Sikkema rejected, causing their relationship to fracture further. Then the pandemic came, pushing the couple apart, with Carrera spending stretches of time in Havana while Sikkema stayed behind in New York.
In early 2022 Carrera filed for divorce. From there the lawsuit details bitter accusations being thrown back and forth. Sikkema claimed that Carrera tried to steal $200,000 from one of his bank accounts using a forged check; Carrera filed complaints about Sikkema with the New York City Administration for Children's Services and the police, claiming to the latter that Sikkema planned to 'commit mass murder at John F. Kennedy Airport.' (All claims were found to be baseless.)
After hearing that Carrera had told their son's school that he would not be reenrolling because they were moving to Cuba, the lawsuit claims, Sikkema petitioned to take custody of their son's passport, a request that was granted. And during the divorce proceedings Carrera demanded $6 million and full custody of their son, according to the lawsuit. Sikkema refused the proposal.
While Sikkema worked to avoid further confrontation with Carrera, he also took drastic steps to protect his estate. On May 17, 2022, Sikkema secretly amended his will. 'I specifically and fully disinherit Daniel Sikkema a/k/a Daniel Garcia Carrera regardless of whether he is my legal spouse at the time of my demise or not,' Sikkema wrote.
Additionally, he bequeathed $100,000 each to a niece and a nephew, and $1 million in trust to former romantic partner Carlos Ramos, with the remainder of his assets—including his ownership stake in Sikkema Jenkins & Co.—to be held in a trust for his son.
Sikkema gave enormous power to attorney James Deaver, both as the executor of his estate and as the trustee of assets passed down to his heirs. A close friend for more than 30 years, Deaver had the job of selling or managing Sikkema's property ('as if the absolute owner thereof,' Sikkema wrote), with the ultimate goal of ensuring that Sikkema's wealth, when passed down to his son, would be safeguarded. In many respects it was Deaver above anyone else whom Sikkema entrusted with his life's work, and the fortune earned thereby. (Deaver declined to comment.) Although Deaver practices insurance litigation, Sikkema urged him to draft his will as a stopgap measure while his divorce was being finalized. More than anything, he needed to rely on someone he could trust.
It's unclear if Sikkema knew that his life was in danger (the lawsuit brought by his estate alleged that he told friends that he feared Carrera would physically harm him) and that the wishes detailed in the 24-page document would, less than two years later, have to be administered. And yet the alleged scheme that ended in Sikkema's murder was on the horizon, a desperate and tragic escalation thrust within the sordid separation of two former lovers.
The contours of Carrera's alleged murder-for-hire plot began in the summer of 2023, according to criminal charges filed against Prevez and Carrera in Brazil and a U.S. indictment against Carrera—roughly six months before Sikkema was stabbed to death in his Rio home. Carrera approached Prevez, whom he had hired as a security guard for one of their homes in Cuba before the pandemic. Prevez had since moved to São Paulo, Brazil, six hours west of Rio de Janeiro, in search of work.
In jail Prevez compiled a lengthy, handwritten account of the plot, which was reported by the Wall Street Journal and obtained by Town & Country. Prevez's new lawyer, who came on after his client wrote this account, told the Journal that his confession was proffered under the assumption that Prevez would receive a plea deal and that he may amend his statement; he did not respond to requests for comment for this story. In the document Prevez says Carrera's offer was blunt: He would secretly pay Prevez $200,000 if he murdered Sikkema. Prevez agreed.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, throughout the summer and fall of 2023 Carrera used intermediaries to send Prevez $5,200, some of which, the Brazilian police say, was used to buy a crossbow as a potential murder weapon. Then, on January 15, 2024, Carrera contacted an individual by phone to ask them to give Prevez approximately $5,000. In the contested letter, Prevez says he traveled to Rio to plan the crime, even allegedly entering Sikkema's home while Sikkema was away; it was then that he decided against the crossbow, opting instead to use a kitchen knife.
As Prevez described it in his letter, on December 11, 2023, he went to Sikkema's townhouse to carry out the assassination. Carrera had allegedly given him a key, which he used to open the front door. Once inside, Prevez found that Sikkema's bedroom door was locked—with Sikkema inside. Prevez allegedly called Carrera, asking what he should do. Carrera told him to do something to draw Sikkema out of the bedroom, so Prevez turned off the house's main circuit breaker.
Instead of leaving the room, however, Sikkema began making phone calls from his bedroom. Prevez abandoned the plot and snuck out of the house. This bungled attempt allegedly made Carrera grow impatient; he told Prevez that he needed to complete the job for which he had been hired. The Wall Street Journal reported that Carrera allegedly told Prevez, 'If you don't want to do this, don't do it, but forget that I exist.'
Sikkema, unaware of the alleged plot on his life, lived normally over the holidays and into the new year. He purchased a property in Leblon, a leafy beachside community in Rio de Janeiro, and was set to receive the keys two days after the day he was killed. His romantic life was also on an upswing. According to Brazilian police records, Sikkema's driver was taking him home when Sikkema made a FaceTime call to a new boyfriend, telling the man, 'I love you' before hanging up. Sikkema told his driver that he had met the man before Christmas and that he was in love with him. 'I think I need a dog, not a boyfriend,' Sikkema joked to his driver, his mood ironically buoyant in the face of impending doom.
Two days later, the Brazilian police say, on Saturday, January 13, 2024, Prevez traveled to Rio and waited patiently inside his car for night to fall. At 3:42 a.m. he entered Sikkema's townhouse, grabbed a knife from the kitchen, and made his way upstairs. Although Sikkema's body was later found on the bed, a crime scene expert brought in by the Brazilian police who examined the scene found credible evidence to support the theory that Sikkema had stood up and fought for his life as Prevez stabbed him. The bloody encounter lasted less than 15 minutes, and then Prevez exited the house, took off the gloves he was wearing, got into his car, and drove away. While on the road, according to the Brazilian police, Prevez called Carrera, who instructed the hitman to delete the call history on his phone.
The day after Prevez was arrested, Carrera took to Facebook to mourn his loss. He posted a photograph of himself with Sikkema and their son captioned (in Spanish), 'Rest in peace beloved husband. Our son and I will always remember you.' This public display of grief did nothing to prevent him from being accused of the murder by the Brazilian police just a few weeks later.
Carrera's alleged murder-for-hire plot unraveled quickly. The Rio police obtained security camera footage of Prevez entering Sikkema's townhouse and identified his vehicle, and set off on a manhunt. The Brazilian press obtained the footage, and the police allege that Carrera told Prevez to escape from the country. Prevez obeyed and headed north, toward the Paraguayan border.
Four days after the murder, he was found in Minas Gerais, some 600 miles northwest of Rio, sleeping in his car at a gas station. Prevez was arrested and taken back to Rio, where he was charged with the murder of Brent Sikkema. Prevez initially denied being involved, claiming that he had been drugged, and he 'attributed the crime to a ghost, a version that sounded completely absurd,' the Brazilian police report noted.
Less than two weeks later, however, Prevez confessed to the crime—and claimed that Carrera was the mastermind behind it all. 'He closes his eyes and throws himself down on top of the victim, letting the knife go in,' Prevez wrote in Spanish, referring to himself in the third person. Carrera denies any involvement in Sikkema's death.
'Alejandro's confession was made with great freedom and spontaneity,' says Greg Andrade, Prevez's lawyer at the time. Andrade dropped Prevez as a client because, Andrade says, he discovered that Carrera had contacted him while Prevez was in prison.
On February 9, 2024, a Brazilian criminal court formally charged Carrera and Prevez with Sikkema's murder. The day before he was indicted in Brazil, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, Carrera tried to apply for a new passport for his son, falsely claiming that the old one had been lost.
In March 2024 Carrera was arrested and charged with passport fraud and held under house arrest in New York City. After the initial shock of Sikkema's death, and the flurry of speculation that swirled in the wake of the killing, the investigation, at least publicly, seemed to fall into a lull. Throughout 2024 there appeared to be little movement in the case. While Prevez's trial moved slowly through the Brazilian court system (it remains ongoing), Carrera was kept in the U.S. under house arrest, and no insights were offered by the American authorities as to what they planned to do about the situation.
Carrera hired an attorney to contest Sikkema's will, arguing that, as his legal spouse at the time of his death, he still held a claim on a portion of his estate. Sikkema's executor and lawyer, James Deaver, for his part, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in January 2025 against Carrera in an effort to protect Sikkema's estate, claiming that Carrera 'master­minded' Sikkema's murder.
And then, on February 11, 2025, almost 13 months after Brent Sikkema was found dead in his Rio de Janeiro home, Daniel Garcia Carrera was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice on four counts: murder-for-hire resulting in death, murder-for-hire conspiracy resulting in death, conspiracy to murder and maim a person in a foreign country, and passport fraud. (Carrera's lawyers did not respond to requests for comment for this story.)
Announcing the indictment, FBI Assistant Director in Charge James E. Dennehy said, 'In the midst of a tense divorce, Daniel Sikkema…allegedly hired a hitman to facilitate the international murder of his husband, and attempted to conceal his involvement in this callous plan.' Then–U.S. Attorney Danielle R. Sassoon also gave a statement, accusing Carrera of carrying out 'a cold-blooded plot' to murder Brent Sikkema. Carrera has pleaded not guilty. The case is ongoing, and the shockwaves of the crime continue to ripple through the art world, leaving in their wake a legacy affixed with a tragic asterisk.
This story appears in the Summer 2025 issue of Town & Country. SUBSCRIBE NOW
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