(West Palm Beach, Florida) The second of two men charged in the 2006 murder of Alan Shalleck, the collaborator of the “Curious George” books and TV series, has been spared the death penalty.

Vincent Puglisi this week was sentenced to life in prison.

Puglisi was found guilty in June of first-degree murder and robbery with a deadly weapon.

His co-defendant, Rex Ditto, already is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty last year to first-degree murder and robbery with a weapon.

Prosecutors originally sought the death penalty for both men but as part of a plea deal to avoid a death sentence, Ditto agreed to testify against his former boyfriend and co-accused.

Shalleck’s body was found in February 2006 covered with garbage bags on the driveway of his mobile home in a Boynton Beach trailer park.

An autopsy found that the 76 year old had been stabbed to death. There were more than 30 stab wound to the body and he had been struck more than 80 times with a blunt instrument.

The trailer home had been ransacked and jewelry and credit cars were missing. It was also discovered that money had been taken from Shalleck’s savings account.

Tracing his final hours police determined he met his killers through a gay sex listing service. Using Shalleck’s phone records investigators were led to Ditto and Puglisi.

Shalleck was the writer and director of more than 100 short episodes of Curious George, which aired on the Disney Channel, and co-wrote more than two dozen Curious George books with Margret Rey, who created the character with her husband, H.A. Rey, in 1939.

Despite the success of the books and TV series Shalleck never became famous or rich out of “Curious George”.

He lived on his Social Security checks and made ends meet doing odd jobs.