The Maine Attorney General’s Office has hired veteran journalist Renee Ordway to serve as a victims’ advocate with the state’s first cold-case unit.

Ordway worked for 29 years as a reporter and columnist for the Bangor Daily News and most recently as assistant news director for two Bangor-area television stations. In her new role, she will work with the family members of victims of unsolved homicide and missing person cases.

Ordway’s hire completes the staffing of the unit, which was formed last year after Sen. Linda Valentino, D-Saco, sponsored legislation to fund its creation. The unit also includes two Maine State Police detectives, a state police lieutenant, a forensic chemist and a prosecutor from the AG’s office.

“Much of my career at the Bangor Daily (News) was spent in courtrooms and telling the stories of the family members of homicide victims,” Ordway said in an email Tuesday. “My own family experienced homicide in 2002 when my sister-inlaw was murdered by her husband in front of their two young children who eventually came to live with us. I understand the importance of having a responsive person on the other end of the line when you are dealing with the very tragic circumstances of homicide.”

Ordway will start the job on Feb. 22, and her salary will be about $42,057 annually, the Bangor Daily News reported.

“In her 30-year career in journalism, Renee has demonstrated an ability to give voice to victims in a manner that has earned her a reputation for fairness and compassion,” Attorney General Janet Mills said in a statement. “We are very pleased to have the unit at full complement and working on these difficult cases.

“As we have said over the last several years as the Legislature considered creating this unit, we cannot guarantee convictions, but we can guarantee our undivided attention and our best efforts.”

There are about 120 unsolved homicide and missing person cases that the unit has been tasked with investigating.

At a news conference in Augusta last month, Valentino said she planned to submit additional legislation to allow for the release of more information about cold cases to agencies outside of law enforcement, as well as a bill to reconsider the current two-year statute of limitations for civil lawsuits to be filed in connection with unsolved homicides.

Ramona Torres, whose son Angel was last seen in the Biddeford area in 1999, was at the January conference, and later told the Journal Tribune she hopes Valentino’s efforts will lead to changes in current laws.

Torres said a past effort by a media company to feature her son’s story in a documentary failed because the private investigators that the company hired could not access information they needed.

“It’s a broken system,” she said. “We are trying to fix it.”

— Staff Writer Angelo J. Verzoni can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or averzoni@journaltribune.com. Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf contributed to this report.