CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Nearly three years after three rotting corpses were found behind his East Cleveland apartment, serial killer Michael Madison was sentenced Thursday to death row.

Cuyahoga Common Pleas Judge Nancy R. McDonnell sentenced the 38-year-old, her first ever death sentence in over 20 years on the bench.

A jury found him guilty last month of murdering 18-year-old Shirrellda Terry, 28-year-old Shetisha Sheeley and 38-year-old Angela Deskins in a series of strangulation between October 2012 and July 2013.

Madison's trial began nearly two months ago after years of delays after Madison was required to undergo several psychological examinations.

It is likely that Madison will remain in jail for years if not decades. The killer has already signaled to the judge that he will appeal the sentence to the Ohio Supreme Court.

The jury recommended that Madison be sentenced to death, unpersuaded by mitigating factors that included a torturous childhood where he was beaten repeatedly by his mother's boyfriends and eventually cast out of both high school and his home.

Madison met the three women in separate incidents and lured them back to his apartment at the corner of Hayden and Shaw avenues.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty described Madison as a trophy keeper, inspired by prior East Cleveland killer Anthony Sowell.

Madison stored the bodies in garbage bags, one in his garage, another in bushes outside and a third in the basement of a nearby vacant home. He could see all three bodies from the second floor balcony of his apartment.

Regardless of McDonnell's decision, Madison would never have set foot a free man again. As a convicted sex offender, Madison's murder convictions left the judge with only two options, death or life without possibility of parole.

This story has been updated. A previous version incorrectly stated that Madison was 35 years old. He was 35 at the time of his murders, he is now 38.