Man charged in cold case killing of 8-year-old Rochester girl after two decades
Rochester police on Friday announced an arrest in a nearly 20-year-old case in which a house fire caused the death of an 8-year-old girl.
Rochester Police Chief David Smith said that Timothy Kuhn, 63, of Holmes County, Florida was charged Friday with second-degree murder and first-degree arson, both felonies, in connection with the 2004 death of Savannah Streber.
“We never gave up, we never stopped fighting and we’re not done yet," Savannah’s older sister Kelly Streber said Friday morning at a news conference at the Public Safety Building.
Savannah, then an elementary student at Rochester's School 39, died in the early morning fire at 17 Yates St. on Feb. 28, 2004. Savannah and her younger sister were at home with a babysitter and the sitter's 11-year-old son when the fire erupted, Smith said. The girls' mother Lisa was working at the time and was not at home.
Some Yates Street residents that night reported hearing a loud noise, then noticed 17 Yates was on fire, Smith said. The sitter's son woke up to the blaze, told his mother of the fire and ran to a neighbor's house for help.
The sitter rushed to wake the girls, Smith said, but realized once she was outside that Savannah was not longer with her.
"She attempted to re-enter the burning house, but the fire was already too intense," Smith said.
Savannah's body was later recovered from her mother's bedroom. Smith said investigators believed the girl likely ran into the room to look for her mom.
Kuhn is accused of intentionally setting a fire on the back porch of the home shortly after midnight, Smith said.
Smith said that police focused in Kuhn as a person of interest "very early" in the investigation due to his volatile relationship with Savannah’s mother Lisa, who at the time of the fire possessed a “no contact order of protection” against Kuhn following an assault.
A Monroe County grand jury indicted Kuhn on the charges last month and Kuhn was apprehended at his Florida home last week. He was arraigned in Monroe County Court Friday morning and was remanded to the Monroe County Jail without bail.
“We know this arrest will not bring her back, but we hope that it will bring you some sense of solace and that the person responsible will finally face a court of law,” Smith said at the news conference.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Timothy Kuhn charged in 8-year-old Savannah Streber death in Rochester
