Daniel Sikkema Sentenced to Life in Prison for Husband Brent Sikkema's Murder

Daniel Sikkema has been sentenced to life in prison for his role in the murder of his husband, Brent Sikkema, a New York art dealer. The sentence was announced by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, the federal court in Manhattan. ArtNews

Brent Sikkema, 75, was found stabbed to death in his townhouse in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on January 14, 2024. He had been stabbed 18 times. He had founded his gallery in New York in 1991. Daniel Sikkema was his estranged husband.

Prosecutors said the killing was a murder-for-hire plot, meaning one person paid another to carry out a killing. They argued it followed a bitter divorce and a custody dispute over the couple's son. Prosecutors said Daniel Sikkema hired Alejandro Prevez to do the killing and sent 11 payments in total. One payment, of $5,000, reached Prevez shortly after the murder.

A jury trial in New York lasted two weeks. Daniel Sikkema was convicted of three charges: murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country. U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton announced the conviction in May. U.S. Department of Justice

Daniel Sikkema was charged in February 2025, when he was 54. The original charge, one count of murder-for-hire conspiracy, carried a mandatory life sentence if he was convicted.

Brazilian police arrested Prevez on January 18, 2024. His criminal case remains pending in Brazilian courts.

The gallery, which had been called Sikkema Jenkins & Co., was renamed Sikkema Malloy Jenkins after Brent Sikkema's death.