In the days before his brutal stabbing death in his Rio de Janeiro home last month, Manhattan art dealer Brent Sikkema had fallen madly in love with a younger man, The Post has learned.
The revelation was included in a Rio Civil Police file obtained by The Post.
“In the passenger seat of the car, Brent spoke via video conference with a man who spoke broken English,” reads the report, which summarizes the testimony of Luiz Otavio Martins, Sikkema’s former driver in Rio. “The driver could see the young man in the video call. He was dark-skinned and very handsome, and Brent said ‘I love you’ to him in English.”
During what would be his last conversation with Martins, Brent told his driver that he had a date, the report reads, adding that Brent regularly frequented Rio’s bathrooms to pick up young prostitutes.
“He preferred them young,” the Rio police report says. “The driver told Brent not to bring prostitutes to his apartment because he was too dangerous. “Brent told the driver that he had met a guy before Christmas and that he was madly in love.”
Art dealer Brent Sikkema loved opera and other high-culture activities, and represented such famous artists as Kara Walker (above), but he also had a secret life. Patrick McMullan via Getty Images The Post obtained a police report that includes witness statements from those who last saw Brent Sikkema alive. Above is a mugshot of Alejandro Triana Prevez, the suspect in the brutal murder. Brazilian Power Court
The art dealer ignored the driver’s warnings and joked that he needed a guard dog more than a mistress, according to the report.
The identity of the man Brent spoke to on the video call is unknown.
Sikkema represented noted artist Walker for years. Billy Farrell/BFA/Shutterstock Sikkema rubbed shoulders with high-profile figures, including Michelle Obama. Instagram/Brent Sikkema
Brent, director of Sikkema Jenkins Gallery in Chelsea, represented high-profile artists Vik Muniz and Kara Walker, among others. According to the police report, she frequently visited Rio de Janeiro, where she had traveled in December 2023 to spend Christmas without her ex-husband and her teenage son.
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On January 15, five days after the conversation overheard by his driver, Sikkema was found dead in the bedroom of his elegant townhouse with multiple stab wounds to his throat and chest.
Brent Sikkema was found stabbed to death in the bedroom of his townhouse in Rio de Janeiro on January 15. AP A diagram from a Brazilian police report shows the location of the Sikkema stab wounds. Brazilian Power Court
Police arrested Alejandro Triana Prevez, a 30-year-old Cuban national who knew Sikkema and her ex-husband, Cuban-born Daniel Sikkema, days after the murder.
Daniel, 53, who said in a memoir in Spanish that she worked as a prostitute in Havana and Madrid before meeting Brent more than 15 years ago, had hired the suspect to work as a security guard at one of the three houses he the couple owned by Cuba, according to Rio police.
The Cuban suspect in Sikkema’s murder knew both Brent Sikkema and her Cuban-born ex-husband, Daniel. REUTERS
The Sikkemas were involved in a divorce lawsuit that lasted nearly two years in the New York State Supreme Court before Brent’s death. The divorce, which was initiated by Daniel, had not been finalized at the time of Brent’s death, according to public documents.
Rio police told reporters last month that Daniel had demanded more than $6 million in payments to allow Brent to see their 14-year-old son, who was born in California via surrogacy, according to social media posts. . But court records show that custody was resolved in May 2023. Court records also show that a restraining order was filed in May 2022, two months after the divorce was filed, but it is unclear who filed it.
Daniel Sikkema (above, with the Sikkemas’ son) fought a bitter custody battle with his ex-husband in Manhattan. The divorce had not yet been finalized when Brent was murdered in Brazil. Brent Sikkema/Instagram
Daniel Sikkema declined to comment when contacted by cell phone Tuesday. He has not been charged with any crime.
Sikkema was due to return to New York City on Jan. 16, the day after he was found dead, and had made plans with Martins to settle his bill for a month of work in Rio the day before his flight, according to the police report. . .
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Source: vtt.edu.vn