(AP) — A man convicted of killing a husband and wife and their 7-year-old son will avoid the death penalty.

A panel of three judges decided Monday 38-year-old Jose Oliveira-Coutinho should be sentenced to life in prison for his role in the slayings.

Oliveira-Coutinho was one of three Brazilian men charged with killing Vanderlei Szczepanik, his wife, Jacqueline, and their son, Christopher. Oliveira-Coutinho was convicted last year of three counts of first-degree murder and one count of theft.

The family was last seen in December 2009.

Prosecutors have said Oliveira-Coutinho and two other Brazilians — Valdeir Goncalves-Santos and Elias Lourenco-Batista — beat Vanderlei Szczepanik to death and hanged his wife and son before throwing the bodies in the Missouri River.

The boy’s body was recovered in 2011.