Family members of Savannah Streber, the 8-year-old girl who died in a 2004 house fire on Rochester’s Yates Street, held signs and demanded justice during a protest on Friday. The demonstration came nearly 11 months after murder and arson charges against the man accused of setting the fire, Timothy Kuhn, were thrown out on the day his trial was set to begin.
A Protest Born of Frustration
Savannah’s sister, Kelly Streber, told 13WHAM that the family hopes the Monroe County District Attorney’s office can appeal the case and find a way to reopen it. She said the dismissal sends a dangerous message that people can commit murder and get away with it. Kuhn was accused of setting the fire that trapped Savannah inside the Yates Street home in 2004, and he was arrested after nearly two decades as a fugitive.
Rochester police have previously pointed to a record-keeping issue as the reason the charges were ultimately dismissed, according to the station’s report. That explanation traces back to a single, pivotal disclosure made in court just before trial was set to start.
How a 2005 Confession Sank the Case
On October 7, 2025, Monroe County Supreme Court Justice Stephen Miller dismissed all murder and arson charges against Kuhn on the very day jury selection was scheduled to begin, according to WXXI News. Prosecutors had disclosed that a jailhouse witness reported Kuhn’s confession to Rochester police back in 2005. The case centered on Kuhn’s constitutional speedy-trial rights, and Justice Miller ruled that presenting evidence in 2025 that had been available to police two decades earlier amounted to an unconstitutional delay.
Monroe County District Attorney Brian Green said prosecutors discovered the true 2005 timeframe of the confession while interviewing a witness just days before trial, which led them to disclose the delay to the court. Green expressed heartbreak over the dismissal.
Defense Calls It a Breakdown in Police Work
Kuhn’s defense attorney, Kyle Steinebach, represented Kuhn after his release from the Monroe County Hall of Justice following the dismissal, per WROC News 8…