A Cuban was arrested as a suspect three days after Brent Sikkema, a veteran New York art gallery owner, was found dead with 18 stab wounds in his summer apartment in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Sikkema, a 75-year-old American, was co-owner and founder of the gallery “Sikkema Jenkins & Co.” in Chelsea, Manhattan. The victim I lived most of the year in New Yorkbut he called his apartment in Rio de Janeiro an urban “oasis,” he said CBS News.
Yesterday the police arrested a man they identified as Alejandro Triana Trevez. The man, who according to local media He is a Cuban with refugee status in Brazil, he had fled and was found resting at a gas station near the city Uberaba, in the neighboring state of Minas Gerais.
Police said Triana Trevez allegedly took $3,000 from Sikkema’s house. Detective Felipe Curi, who heads the homicide unit of the Rio de Janeiro state police, said the main line of investigation is the robbery resulting in homicide.
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A man was arrested in Brazil on Thursday in connection with the killing of Brent Sikkema, a New York art dealer who was found with stab wounds in his Rio de Janeiro apartment this week. https://t.co/66mCR89cA2
— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 18, 2024
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Cuban Alejandro Triana Trevez, who was arrested this Thursday morning (18), in the city of Uberaba, in Minas Gerais, knew the American gallerist and his husband. According to the Civil Police, the Cuban and Brent Sikkema met between July and August last year #LiveCNNBrasil pic.twitter.com/MDCHXUP7xp
— CNN Brasil (@CNNBrasil) January 19, 2024
“The initial findings of our investigation indicate that Alejandro (Trévez) “He came from Sao Paulo specifically to commit this crime,” Detective Curi said. He then returned to Sao Paulo, leading investigators to believe he had “some kind of inside information.”
Authorities obtained a 30-day jail warrant against the suspect, which Curi said would allow them to explore other leads and answer questions about whether the victim knew her attacker.
In a statement on his page, the gallery confirmed the death of its co-owner. “It is with great sadness that the gallery announces the passing of our beloved founder, Brent Sikkema (…) The gallery mourns this tremendous loss and will carry on in his spirit.”
In 2021, during a trip to the Swiss city Zurich, Sikkema described himself on Instagram as a “chaotic type” and said that Brazil and Cuba were his favorite destinations.
In a similar case, in January of last year Eric E. Garvin, a lawyer from Staten Island (NYC), was shot dead near his Airbnb in Santiago, Chile, one day before leaving that city en route to Argentina. He was missing for several days, until the police in the Chilean capital confirmed his identity with the help of the FBI.
2024-01-19 19:32:00
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