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JonBenet's dad finds pageants disturbing

The gravesite of JonBenet Ramsey in St. James Episcopal Cemetery, Marietta, Ga., August 17, 2006. She was 6 when murdered in her Boulder, Colo. home Christmas day, 1996.(UPI Photo/John Dickerson)
The gravesite of JonBenet Ramsey in St. James Episcopal Cemetery, Marietta, Ga., August 17, 2006. She was 6 when murdered in her Boulder, Colo. home Christmas day, 1996.(UPI Photo/John Dickerson) | License Photo

NEW YORK, March 13 (UPI) -- The father of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey, found slain in her Colorado home in 1996, said Tuesday he finds child beauty pageant shows disturbing.

John Ramsey, whose daughter would be 21 years old if she were alive today, told ABC News he has seen snippets of the TLC child pageant show "Toddlers and Tiaras."

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"It's very bizarre," he said, adding that his wife and JonBenet didn't approach child beauty pageants the way "Tiger moms" do today.

Patsy Ramsey was a beauty queen herself and JonBenet wanted to take part in pageants after seeing her mother at a pageant reunion, Ramsey said.

He told ABC he regrets letting his daughter compete.

"Only because that possibly might have drawn attention to us," he said.

Ramsey has written a book, "The Other Side of Suffering," about his journey from grief to hope.

JonBenet's death has never been solved.

Her body was found in the family's Boulder, Colo., home the same day the family discovered a ransom note demanding $118,000 in return for her safe return.

It took 12 years for the Boulder district attorney's office to completely clear the Ramseys of any wrongdoing. Patsy Ramsey died of cancer in 2006.

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