Brazilian police said they are investigating whether the ex-husband of Manhattan art dealer Brent Sikkema knew the Cuban suspect who was arrested this week for Sikkema’s brutal murder in Rio de Janeiro, according to a Brazilian news report.
Sikkema, 75, whose Chelsea gallery, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., represents Vik Muniz and Kara Walker, among other high-profile artists, was found dead Monday of multiple stab wounds to the throat and face in a home in his property in the coastal city. .
Cuban citizen Alejandro Triana Prevez was arrested Thursday in connection with the homicide. Police said they seized jewelry and the equivalent of more than $36,000 in cash in the arrest of the fugitive, who was detained by police near a highway in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.
Police say they want to speak to Sikkema’s ex-husband, who is also of Cuban origin, the newspaper reported Saturday. Rio police said the couple was going through a “bitter” divorce and a custody fight over their 12-year-old son, according to a report in Rio de Janeiro newspaper O Globo.
“Knowing that the detained suspect is Cuban, a new phase of the investigation will begin to verify whether the ex-husband had any relationship with the accused,” Rio police spokesman Alexandre Herdy said at a news conference on Friday.
Brent Sikkema, who represents Vik Muniz and Kara Walker, among other high-profile artists, was found dead in his Rio home on Monday. Paul Bruinooge/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Triana, 30, landed in Brazil from Cuba as a refugee in 2022, according to a post on his Facebook page. Police say they found a 92-page book written by Triana and published that same year, titled “Gray Reflections on Love,” according to O Globo. The book, a diary of sorts, includes suggestions on how to get the most out of life, according to the report.
Police said that based on surveillance footage, the suspect searched Sikkema’s home in the Jardim Botánico neighborhood for nearly 14 hours straight last week before his body was found.
The footage shows Triana sitting in his car and in the area outside the Sikkema residence from 2:20 pm last Saturday until almost 3:57 am on Sunday. She allegedly entered the premises shortly after and left 14 minutes later, police said.
Police say suspect Alejandro Triana Prevez investigated Brent Sikkema’s home in Rio de Janeiro for nearly 14 hours last week. AP
“We have no doubt that this was a premeditated crime,” Herdy said. “What we don’t know is what the motive for the crime was, whether it was robbery or something else. What we understand is that the suspect was very careful and left the air conditioning in the bedroom on so as not to arouse suspicion. He also left an expensive mobile phone near the body, something we do not understand.”
Sikkema, who traveled to Rio from New York three times a year, was found on Monday by his Brazilian lawyer, who had the keys to his house.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn