diff --git a/registry/job.go b/registry/job.go
index ca16282eb..9a1ac1684 100644
--- a/registry/job.go
+++ b/registry/job.go
@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"path"
+	"reflect"
 	"sort"
+	"strings"
 
 	etcd "github.com/coreos/fleet/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/coreos/etcd/client"
 
@@ -284,6 +286,48 @@ func (r *EtcdRegistry) getUnitFromObjectNode(node *etcd.Node, unitHashLookupFunc
 
 }
 
+// getUnitFromPlainNode() takes a *etcd.Node containing a Unit's jobModel, and
+// instantiates and returns a representative *job.Unit, transitively fetching
+// the associated UnitFile as necessary. In contrast to getUnitFromObjectNode(),
+// this does not use not.Value itself as a hash key, but it uses the last part
+// of node.Key for the hash key.
+func (r *EtcdRegistry) getUnitFromPlainNode(node *etcd.Node, unitHashLookupFunc func(unit.Hash) *unit.UnitFile) (*job.Unit, error) {
+	var err error
+	var jm jobModel
+
+	if err = unmarshal(node.Value, &jm); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	parts := strings.Split(node.Key, "/")
+	if len(parts) == 0 {
+		log.Errorf("key '%v' doesn't have enough parts", node.Key)
+		return nil, nil
+	}
+	stringHash := parts[len(parts)-1]
+
+	hashKey, err := unit.HashFromHexString(stringHash)
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Errorf("cannot convert key string into hash. %v", err)
+		return nil, nil
+	}
+
+	var unit *unit.UnitFile
+
+	unit = unitHashLookupFunc(hashKey)
+	if unit == nil {
+		log.Warningf("No Unit found in Registry for Job(%s)", jm.Name)
+		return nil, nil
+	}
+
+	ju := &job.Unit{
+		Name: jm.Name,
+		Unit: *unit,
+	}
+	return ju, nil
+
+}
+
 // jobModel is used for serializing and deserializing Jobs stored in the Registry
 type jobModel struct {
 	Name     string
@@ -297,7 +341,12 @@ func (r *EtcdRegistry) DestroyUnit(name string) error {
 	opts := &etcd.DeleteOptions{
 		Recursive: true,
 	}
-	_, err := r.kAPI.Delete(r.ctx(), key, opts)
+	u, err := r.Unit(name)
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Warningf("r.Unit error, name=%s\n", name)
+		u = nil
+	}
+	_, err = r.kAPI.Delete(r.ctx(), key, opts)
 	if err != nil {
 		if isEtcdError(err, etcd.ErrorCodeKeyNotFound) {
 			err = errors.New("job does not exist")
@@ -307,9 +356,78 @@ func (r *EtcdRegistry) DestroyUnit(name string) error {
 	}
 
 	// TODO(jonboulle): add unit reference counting and actually destroying Units
+
+	// Delete unit from the etcd registry
+	if u != nil {
+		// check if the unit is really valid. If not, return err.
+		key = r.hashedUnitPath(u.Unit.Hash())
+		unitMatch, err := r.checkUnitMatch(u)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("Failed checking unit validity")
+		}
+		if unitMatch {
+			return fmt.Errorf("Invalid unit in the etcd registry: not deleting from registry.")
+		}
+		_, err = r.kAPI.Delete(r.ctx(), key, opts)
+		if err != nil {
+			// NOTE: unable to delete the key, but it's practically no big deal,
+			// as the garbage will be later cleaned up on the etcd side.
+			return fmt.Errorf("Failed deleting unit from registry: %s", err)
+		}
+	}
 	return nil
 }
 
+// checkUnitMatch() determines if the given unit is a really valid entry in the
+// etcd registry, by querying the entries via RPC.
+func (r *EtcdRegistry) checkUnitMatch(unitDel *job.Unit) (unitMatch bool, err error) {
+	key := path.Join(r.keyPrefix, unitPrefix)
+	opts := &etcd.GetOptions{
+		Recursive: true,
+	}
+	res, err := r.kAPI.Get(r.ctx(), key, opts)
+	if err != nil {
+		if isEtcdError(err, etcd.ErrorCodeKeyNotFound) {
+			err = nil
+		}
+		return false, err
+	}
+
+	return r.checkUnitSiblings(unitDel, res.Node)
+}
+
+// checkUnitSiblings() returns true if there's a duplicated entry already in
+// the etcd registry.
+func (r *EtcdRegistry) checkUnitSiblings(unitDel *job.Unit, dir *etcd.Node) (bool, error) {
+	uhashKey := dir.Key
+	unitDelName := r.hashedUnitPath(unitDel.Unit.Hash())
+	for _, uhashNode := range dir.Nodes {
+		newUnit, err := r.getUnitFromPlainNode(uhashNode, r.getUnitByHash)
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Errorf("cannot get unit. err: %v", err)
+			return false, err
+		}
+		if newUnit == nil {
+			log.Debugf("unable to parse Unit in Registry at key %s", uhashKey)
+			continue
+		}
+
+		if unitDelName == uhashNode.Key {
+			log.Debugf("skipping the entry itself.")
+			continue
+		}
+
+		if reflect.DeepEqual(unitDel.Unit.Contents, newUnit.Unit.Contents) {
+			// matched. so this unit has a duplicated entry, so return
+			log.Debugf("won't erase this key, as a duplicated entry is found.")
+			return true, nil
+		}
+	}
+
+	log.Debugf("no matching entry, so it can be removed.")
+	return false, nil
+}
+
 // CreateUnit attempts to store a Unit and its associated unit file in the registry
 func (r *EtcdRegistry) CreateUnit(u *job.Unit) (err error) {
 	if err := r.storeOrGetUnitFile(u.Unit); err != nil {