A court in Rio de Janeiro has set the trial date for Cuban Alejandro Triana Prevez for February 25, 2027, charged with stabbing the renowned American art dealer Brent Sikkema, 75, in January 2024.
The date was set by Judge Tula Correa de Mello, head of the 3rd Criminal Court of the Capital, who also decided to keep the defendant in preventive detention, as reported this Thursday by Agência Brasil.
The magistrate highlighted among the arguments to keep him imprisoned that Triana himself "confessed his intention to flee the country through the border with Peru after the crime was uncovered."
The Cuban faces charges of aggravated homicide, with several aggravating circumstances, including a promise of reward, the use of a cruel means, and the employment of a resource that hindered the victim's defense. He is also charged with qualified robbery.
According to the Prosecutor's Office, Triana traveled from São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro following instructions and with financial support from Daniel García Carrera, also known as Daniel Sikkema, Brent's ex-husband and identified as the mastermind behind the crime.
In the early hours of January 15, 2024, Triana allegedly used some keys that Daniel supposedly sent her from the United States to enter the residence of the gallery owner, located in the exclusive neighborhood of Jardim Botânico.
Once inside, Sikkema was stabbed 18 times.
The autopsy report cited by the judge "demonstrates the dangerousness and brutality of the crime," noting that the victim was attacked with a sharp-edged instrument "with no possibility of defense."
Triana was arrested three days later at a gas station between the cities of Uberlândia and Uberaba, in the state of Minas Gerais. At the time of his arrest, he had $3,000 on him.
A crime amid a contentious divorce
The Prosecutor's Office argues that the murder was related to the economic dispute that Brent and Daniel had been engaged in since 2022 during their divorce proceedings.
According to the accusation, Daniel allegedly promised Triana $200,000 to carry out the murder, although the payments made before and after the crime totaled around $9,000.
Brent had excluded his ex-husband from his will and rejected a six million dollar divorce settlement.
The judicial situation of both defendants is now progressing through different avenues.
In Brazil, the case against Daniel was separated from Triana's following a legal appeal, so both cases are being handled independently.
In the United States, meanwhile, a federal jury in Manhattan found Daniel García Carrera guilty in May of conspiracy to commit murder for hire resulting in death, murder for hire resulting in death, and conspiracy to murder a person abroad.
García Carrera, born in Camagüey in 1970, emigrated to Spain in 1998 and later to the United States, where he married Sikkema in 2013.
The federal indictment against the Cuban in New York was filed in February 2025. Following the guilty verdict, sentencing is still pending.
Brent Sikkema was a renowned contemporary art dealer in New York. He founded his gallery in 1991 and later created Sikkema Jenkins & Co., which represented artists such as Kara Walker and Vik Muniz. After his murder, the gallery was renamed Sikkema Malloy Jenkins.
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