The unearthed diary reveals the grisly final moments of a high-profile New York art dealer murdered in a Rio holiday home “after his greedy husband struck him thinking he would be richer as a widower than a divorcee”.

• A handwritten prison diary has revealed the harrowing final moments of the life of legendary art dealer Brent Sikkema, who was brutally stabbed.
• Sikemma was stabbed in his home in Rio de Janeiro on January 13
• Entries from the murder suspect’s diary reveal a shocking story of an alleged “murder for hire” plot by Sikkema’s estranged husband.

A discovered diary may have provided gruesome new details about the gruesome murder of legendary art dealer Brent Sikkema.

Sikkema, 75, moved to Rio de Janeiro last Christmas after spending two years trying to resolve an acrimonious divorce from her estranged husband Daniel, 53.

Daniel was seeking an “unreasonable” $6 million of his reported $20 million fortune.

On January 13, Brent was stabbed to death in his two-storey holiday home, sparking a police investigation and manhunt for his killer.

On January 18, a 30-year-old delivery driver, Alejandro Triana Prevez, was arrested.

After initially denying any involvement in the murder, the Cuban immigrant eventually admitted to police that he killed Sikkema and claimed that Brent’s ex, Daniel, 53, hired him to do it.

Daniel denied the allegations, telling the Wall Street Journal in a statement “I hope that based on evidence and not false accusations, what really happened will come to light.”

Now, shocking details from Prevez’s handwritten prison diary, seen by the Wall Street Journal, reveal the brutal final moments before Brent was stabbed eighteen times, including in the chest and face, in his own bed.

“He finds (Brent) sleeping with his mouth open, his naked body covered in silky sheets, breathing calmly,” Prevez wrote of the moment he entered Brent’s bedroom in Rio ready to take his own life.

“Moving on the side of the bed in silence, trying to breathe calmly but failing,” he wrote, describing himself in the third person.

Prevez detailed how he used a knife from Brent’s kitchen to kill the millionaire art dealer.

— He closes his eyes and throws himself on top of the victim, letting the knife enter.

“She starts fighting, pulls out the knife with tears in her eyes and stabs three more times trying to get him to stop moving, an image that will never be erased,” the gruesome diary entry reads.

Prevez wrote in the account that he stabbed Brent four times, apologized and covered the body with a sheet before washing the knife and leaving the property.

However, an autopsy found that Brent had been stabbed 18 times, mostly in the chest and face.

Prevez, who taught at a polytechnic school in Havana, met Brent and Daniel, who is also Cuban, when he was hired to be a caretaker for a property they owned in Havana.

After several years in this role, he moved to Sao Paulo, but got back in touch with Daniel in 2022, the Journal reported.

The friends decided to catch up, a meeting where Daniel offered Prevez $200,000 and a place to stay in Rio in exchange for killing Brent, according to Prevez’s subsequent police statement.

Prevez’s diary reveals that the former teacher had moved to Brazil in September 2022, hoping to make a better living.

However, he was tempted by Daniel’s alleged offer, the diary claims, after being angered by Daniel’s stories about Brent’s bad behavior in the marriage.

Daniel accused his wife of cheating, out-of-control drug use, including leaving “cocaine bowls” around their home, and planning to take a gun to JFK airport to “kill people,” informed the Journal.

Prevez wrote in his diary that he became particularly upset after hearing Daniel recall how their son Lucas was left in tears when he heard Brent with an escort in the adjoining hotel room during a trip to Paris.

Daniel’s attorneys confirmed to the Journal that their client shared this story with Prevez, as he says.

However, Prevez claims he first told Daniel he would “think about the proposal,” according to his police statement.

Prevez told police he was later sent sums of money from an account in New York, in chunks of $300 to $500 at the time.

Brazilian police later linked the transfers to an account registered to Daniel’s cellphone, the Journal reported.

Daniel’s lawyers say the money was payback for Prevez’s previous work in Havana.

Prevez claims Daniel then sent her a key to the Rio property and asked her to get a mobile phone so they could communicate via WhatsApp.

Prevez told investigators he traveled to Rio twice in 2023, once to plan the murder and again in December when he was planning to commit it.

However, he became nervous and withdrew from the plan.

In response, Daniel told Prevez “if you don’t want to do it, don’t do it, but forget I exist,” according to Prevez’s police account.

After that conversation, the money allegedly stopped coming from New York and Prevez took a job making deliveries.

However, he claimed that he was not making enough money to support his family in Cuba, so he contacted Daniel.

Prevez says he agreed to return to Rio and kill Brent after Christmas, when Daniel would have confirmed his husband would be in town.

Prevez parked his borrowed Fiat Palio on Brent’s block at 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 13 with a crossbow in the back seat, according to police.

“It’s like a shotgun, but you only get one shot.” The most important thing, though: it’s silent,” Prevez wrote of the potential murder weapon in his journal.

However, he decided not to take him in when he entered Brent’s bedroom and brutally stabbed him to death.

Moments after Prevez left Brent’s house, he called a Brazilian WhatsApp number registered to a woman Daniel knew in Brazil.

However, police say the call came through an IP address in New York.

The next morning, Prevez claims he got a call back from the same number and it was Daniel on the line.

Prevez claims he asked her to delete her call history, but she didn’t.

Daniel’s lawyers deny he spoke to Prevez after Brent’s death.

Prevez said he returned the Fiat car he rented in Sao Palo and bought another one with the money Daniel sent.

He planned to escape to Paraguay, but only made it to Minas Gerais, where he was arrested by police at a gas station.

Under Brazilian law, Prevez could receive a lesser sentence if he acted on the paid instructions of another person.

Daniel claims that this may be why he is encouraged to accuse him of paying for the murder.

Brazilian police charged both Daniel and Prevez with “qualified murder” on February 7.

They claim that Daniel benefited from Brent’s death.

Indeed, under New York law, Daniel could claim one-third of Brent’s net worth as the surviving spouse.

That’s likely more than he would have received in a divorce settlement, which would have been only half of all the assets accumulated during the marriage, and much of Brent’s $20 million fortune was amassed before the couple to meet.

Daniel’s lawyers have indicated they plan to claim his share as a surviving spouse.

The police issued a preventive arrest warrant for Daniel following the indictment that was submitted to Interpol, Jurnalul reports.

Brazilian authorities are also in talks with their American counterparts to determine whether the US will extradite Daniel or continue its own investigation.

On March 20, the FBI arrested Daniel for allegedly committing passport fraud after he tried to apply for a new US passport for his son Lucas when Brent’s executor blocked his access.

Daniel must now wear an electronic ankle bracelet and await the decision of the authorities.