Forty-four-year-old Ronald Dominique walked out of the courtroom with his head down after pleading guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder. The lead prosecutor called the bayou serial killer “a two-headed Hydra of pain and terror,” who killed without conscious or consideration.

Some of the victims' family members also had harsh words for the man who caused them so much sadness.  Chris Cunningham told his brother's killer: “I hope he burns in hell, pretty much. I hope the man burns in hell. I'm sure he will,”

Cynthia Zamora left the courtroom in tears after seeing her brother's killer for the first time. “It was just hard because I always wonder how I would feel when I saw him face to face. It was hard then, but everything is alright now,” she said afterwards.

Dominique is accused of killing 23 men in south Louisiana during a decade-long killing spree that started in the mid-1990s. The former homeless man from Bayou Blue confessed to the crimes after his arrest in December 2006.

Dominique lured down-on-their-luck men and drug addicts with the promise of sex for money, raped and suffocated his victims and then dumped their bodies along remote bayous and cane fields.

District Attorney Joe Waitz says he consulted with the victim's families before taking death off the table in the eight Terrebonne Parish cases.

“We believe that having Mr. Dominique spend the rest of his life in Angola will give our victim's families the opportunity to begin to heal,” said Waitz.

“What he didn't want to do is spend his life in prison. Now he will. So, I'm very happy with it,” said Richard Cunningham, a victim’s father.

Dominique is accused of murders in other south Louisiana parishes. It's unclear at this point whether he will ever stand trial in any of those cases. Dominique's attorney hopes this will be the end of it.

“Hopefully, they will realize that when someone gets sentenced to eight consecutive life sentences, there's no chance of them ever getting out and any further pursuit of any other charges will be a complete waste of taxpayers' money,” said Dominique’s attorney, Richard Goorley.

Dominique is also accused of murders in Lafourche, St. Charles and Jefferson Parishes. He could still be executed if prosecutors in one of these other parishes seek the death penalty.