Daniel Sikkema has been sentenced to life in prison for hiring a hitman to kill his husband, the New York art dealer Brent Sikkema, in a case that has shaken the art world since the gallerist's death in Rio de Janeiro in January 2024. Sikkema was convicted of murder-for-hire on 22 May 2026, and the life sentence brings the criminal proceedings to a close.

Brent Sikkema, 75, was a co-owner of Sikkema Jenkins & Co, a respected New York gallery known for its programme of contemporary artists. He was stabbed 18 times on 14 January 2024 in an apartment in Rio de Janeiro. Investigators found that Daniel Sikkema had made 11 payments to the hitman, Alejandro Prevez, including $5,000 sent minutes after the killing. Prevez was arrested on 18 January 2024, four days after the murder.

The case drew wide attention in the art world, where Brent Sikkema was a well-known figure who had built the gallery over decades with his partner Michael Jenkins. Tributes at the time described a dealer admired for his eye and his loyalty to his artists, and the circumstances of his death, emerging from a marriage breakdown, were followed closely in the press.

The life sentence closes a case that combined a domestic dispute with an international contract killing, and it leaves the gallery world reflecting on the loss of one of its most established dealers. Sikkema Jenkins & Co, founded in 1991 by Brent Sikkema and Michael Jenkins, built a reputation over three decades for its programme of contemporary artists, and the gallery has continued to operate since his death. No further appeals have been reported.