Daniel Sikkema Convicted in 2024 Murder-for-Hire Killing of Gallerist Brent Sikkema
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · May 23
Daniel Sikkema Convicted in 2024 Murder-for-Hire Killing of Gallerist Brent Sikkema
11 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 23
A Manhattan federal jury found Daniel Sikkema guilty on three counts of conspiring to hire and pay a hit man to kill his estranged husband, New York gallerist Brent Sikkema.
Prosecutors said the plot unfolded during a bitter divorce and custody fight, with Daniel Sikkema using a burner phone to arrange the killing in Rio de Janeiro.
Brent Sikkema, 75, was found dead with 18 stab wounds at his vacation home in Brazil in January 2024 after being attacked with a kitchen knife.
Daniel Sikkema now faces a mandatory life sentence, though no sentencing date was immediately clear and his lawyer did not say whether he would appeal.
The killing rattled the art world: Brent Sikkema's gallery—now Sikkema Malloy Jenkins—had long backed artists including Kara Walker, Jeffrey Gibson and Vik Muniz.
With the mastermind convicted in New York, what fate awaits the confessed killer awaiting his own trial in Brazil?
What digital evidence turned angry divorce rants into proof of a cold-blooded, international murder-for-hire plot?