Edmonton inmate's death a homicide
An Edmonton Max prisoner slain over the weekend was doing time for beating up a pedophile, a fight he told court was set up by remand guards for "Con UFC" entertainment.

Edmonton city homicide detectives ruled 49-year-old Gyozo Victor Barasso was murdered. An autopsy concluded Barasso died around 9 p.m. of multiple stab wounds. No suspects have been identified or charged.

It was the 12th Edmonton homicide of the year.

"It's a prison situation and the suspects and the individuals aren't going anywhere," said Chad Orydzuk, a spokesman for the Edmonton Police Service.

In July, Barasso was sentenced to eight months in jail for an attack on another inmate - pedophile Eric Wanamaker- at the Calgary Remand Centre.

At that time, Barasso told the judge remand guards set up the fight "Con UFC" style, saying they knowingly opened his cell door while inmates in protective custody were out having lunch.

Court heard Barasso attacked Wannamaker after the convicted pedophile allegedly stole a picture of Barasso's eight-year-old daughter from his cell the day before.

"I love my kids and you tell me you're going to screw my eight-year-old daughter, you're going to have a beef with me," Barasso told the judge.

"Guilty as charged."

As of Monday evening the maximum-security Edmonton Institution, also known as the Max, was still in lockdown.

Finding a suspect may be harder than it appears, according to Grant MacEwan criminologist Bill Pitt.

"There's blind spots in those surveillance cameras," says Pitt.

Pitt says criminals have a code of conduct where in cases like these, "You keep your mouth shut, you keep your head down, you do your time and you get out."

"Generally it's two or three people together, to spread the culpability around," adds Pitt, "especially when someone is fighting for their life, you need two or three people to (kill) them."

The Max is home to 284 inmates, 27% of which are serving life sentences.