What a sick monster! All those poor people.
Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens everyday in this country. Somebody just slaughtered a family of six in Arizona. What's unprecedented, IMO, is that the judge questioned and encouraged the prisoner for a full detailed confession of each count, while on live national TV.
As for the death penalty, don't be so sure. Once he's in prison, all it would take is for someone to call him a snitch for the warden, and he's dead. The inmates might just kill him anyways for no reason at all.
Since the guy killed kids, I bet a "lifer" will do such. IIRC, child killers are the lowest of the low on the prison caste system.