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.
The Rochester Police Department was reviewing its record-keeping policy. Police have said the 2005 information regarding Kuhn was never acted upon.
The Night Savannah Died
The fire broke out shortly after midnight on February 28, 2004, at 17 Yates Street. Firefighters found Savannah's body in her mother's bed, where investigators believe she had run assuming her mother was asleep inside, according to WXXI News. Her mother, Lisa Routier, was working a night shift at a local restaurant when the fire started.
Babysitter Shonda Whitaker suffered severe burns trying to re-enter the burning home to save Savannah after realizing the girl was missing, per Law & Crime. Whitaker's son went for help, and the account also mentions Alex. Investigators believe Routier was the intended target of the arson, which police say was set on the home's back porch using a Molotov cocktail.
Kuhn became the primary suspect shortly after the fire because he had what investigators described as a volatile relationship with Routier, who had a no-contact order of protection against him. He was arrested nearly two decades later, on December 28, 2023, by the U.S. Marshals Violent Felony Fugitive Task Force at his home in Holmes County, Florida, before being extradited to New York to face second-degree murder and first-degree arson charges.
Years of Reopened Investigation
Cold case detectives with the Rochester Police Department's Major Crimes Unit formally reopened and re-examined the Yates Street arson investigation multiple times over the years, including major reviews in 2018 and 2023. Despite that extensive work by homicide detectives, the undocumented 2005 witness account ultimately barred prosecutors from taking the case to trial.
With the charges dismissed and accountability still unresolved, Savannah's family says its fight now centers on whether the district attorney's office can find another path to accountability. For now, that path remains uncertain, and the family continues to press publicly for the case to be reopened.
