Putnam County Sheriff Jeff Hardy was in office for barely one month when his department was hit with a crisis that gained national attention -- the disappearance of Haleigh Cummings.

On Tuesday, Hardy sat down with Channel 4 to talk frankly about the Haleigh case.

"It was intimidating, I'll be honest with you," Hardy said.

About 50 days after the 5-year-old went missing, Hardy admitted that being thrust into the national spotlight in such dramatic fashion was difficult.

"My fears of being on national television ? the fact that there's a missing 5-year-old child is more important," Hardy said.

Hardy has been in local law enforcement for 15 years and dealt with every type of crime, but nothing like Haleigh's case.

"The investigation has had so many different angles to it that it's been extremely difficult to try to narrow and focus it down to where it needs to be. Also, as previously reported, there have been so many inconsistencies in statements and stories," Hardy said.

Some of the inconsistencies have come from the last person who saw Haleigh -- Misty Croslin.

The sheriff couldn't talk about her specific statements, but he did talk about the suddenly public and angry battle of words between Ronald Cummings and Haleigh's mother, Crystal Sheffield.

The sheriff said their fight is not helping his investigation.

"Unfortunately, in the last few weeks, it seems to have lost the focus of what our mission is here," Hardy said.

The goal is still to find Haleigh or answers after seven weeks of searching.

"Look at the thousands and thousands of hours we've put in on this case, and no trace," Hardy said.

He said working cases is not supposed to be personal but when it comes to a missing child it is personal.