Former escort marries elite 75-year-old art dealer and moves to Manhattan. Now, he is sentenced to life for a hit he orchestrated

Daniel Sikkema, a 56-year-old former male prostitute, was sentenced to life in prison on November 4, 2026, for the paid murder of his husband, Brent Sikkema. The 75-year-old was the co-founder of Sikkema Jenkins & Co., a contemporary art gallery in New York City, and was fatally stabbed to death.

As per the New York Post’s report, evidence showed that Daniel Sikkema paid Alejandro Triana Prevez $9,000 to assassinate his ex-husband while on vacation at their residence in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Prevez was the couple’s former bodyguard.

In a statement, Manhattan US Attorney Jamie McDonald said, “Today’s life sentence holds Daniel Sikkema accountable for a cold, calculated murder-for-hire plot. For months, the defendant manipulated friends, family, and employees to execute a killing driven by greed.”

Brent and Daniel Sikkema shared a child together and divorced

According to Town & Country, the marriage deteriorated by 2019, after Daniel Sikkema allegedly proposed opening their marriage and relocating their family to Cuba. This was followed by divorce proceedings in 2022, when Daniel demanded full custody of their son, Lucas, and $6 million. Following claims that Daniel Sikkema tried to steal $200,000 from his ex-husband’s bank account, he allegedly told authorities that Brent was plotting a mass murder at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

In Alejandro Triana Prevez’ handwritten account of the murder, he had initially attempted to assassinate Brent Sikkema on December 11, 2023, with a key given to him by Daniel. Seeing that Brent was still awake in his bedroom, Prevez shut off the circuit breaker and snuck out of the house.

Prevez returned weeks later on January 13, 2024, and murdered Brent Sikkema in his bathroom and bedroom by stabbing him 18 times in the face, throat, and chest. Brazilian authorities found him four days later and charged him with murder after security camera footage identified him entering Sikkema’s Rio de Janeiro residence.

Brent Sikkema was one of New York City’s most prominent art dealers and a cornerstone of the art world, with a career spanning more than five decades. He was born in rural Illinois and later studied at the San Francisco Art Institute. He worked with a number of galleries on the East Coast before moving to New York City, where he established himself as a curator with a diverse roster of artists. Sikkema opened his gallery, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., in 1991.

He is survived by his son, 15-year-old Lucas Sikkema, who was born from a surrogate in California. The Wall Street Journal reported that Lucas is now under the legal guardianship of Ben Rodriguez-Cubeñas, a program director with the Rockefeller Brothers Fund’s Culpeper Arts & Culture program.