diff --git a/pkg/kube/client.go b/pkg/kube/client.go
index 798434da4..f117d7ee9 100644
--- a/pkg/kube/client.go
+++ b/pkg/kube/client.go
@@ -53,6 +53,11 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/printers"
 )
 
+const (
+	// MissingGetHeader is added to Get's outout when a resource is not found.
+	MissingGetHeader = "==> MISSING\nKIND\t\tNAME\n"
+)
+
 // ErrNoObjectsVisited indicates that during a visit operation, no matching objects were found.
 var ErrNoObjectsVisited = goerrors.New("no objects visited")
 
@@ -217,7 +222,7 @@ func (c *Client) Get(namespace string, reader io.Reader) (string, error) {
 		}
 	}
 	if len(missing) > 0 {
-		buf.WriteString("==> MISSING\nKIND\t\tNAME\n")
+		buf.WriteString(MissingGetHeader)
 		for _, s := range missing {
 			fmt.Fprintln(buf, s)
 		}
diff --git a/pkg/tiller/release_modules.go b/pkg/tiller/release_modules.go
index b5fbbeb44..57b8c4fee 100644
--- a/pkg/tiller/release_modules.go
+++ b/pkg/tiller/release_modules.go
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ func DeleteRelease(rel *release.Release, vs chartutil.VersionSet, kubeClient env
 		return rel.Manifest, []error{fmt.Errorf("corrupted release record. You must manually delete the resources: %s", err)}
 	}
 
-	filesToKeep, filesToDelete := filterManifestsToKeep(files)
+	filesToKeep, filesToDelete := filterManifestsToKeep(files, kubeClient, rel.Namespace)
 	if len(filesToKeep) > 0 {
 		kept = summarizeKeptManifests(filesToKeep)
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/tiller/resource_policy.go b/pkg/tiller/resource_policy.go
index 2102ab66b..e4e08d435 100644
--- a/pkg/tiller/resource_policy.go
+++ b/pkg/tiller/resource_policy.go
@@ -17,7 +17,11 @@ limitations under the License.
 package tiller
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"strings"
+
+	"k8s.io/helm/pkg/kube"
+	"k8s.io/helm/pkg/tiller/environment"
 )
 
 // resourcePolicyAnno is the annotation name for a resource policy
@@ -29,11 +33,16 @@ const resourcePolicyAnno = "helm.sh/resource-policy"
 //   during an uninstallRelease action.
 const keepPolicy = "keep"
 
-func filterManifestsToKeep(manifests []Manifest) ([]Manifest, []Manifest) {
+func filterManifestsToKeep(manifests []Manifest, kubeClient environment.KubeClient, namespace string) ([]Manifest, []Manifest) {
 	remaining := []Manifest{}
 	keep := []Manifest{}
 
 	for _, m := range manifests {
+		// check if m is in fact present from k8s client's POV.
+		output, err := kubeClient.Get(namespace, bytes.NewBufferString(m.Content))
+		if err != nil || strings.Contains(output, kube.MissingGetHeader) {
+			continue
+		}
 
 		if m.Head.Metadata == nil || m.Head.Metadata.Annotations == nil || len(m.Head.Metadata.Annotations) == 0 {
 			remaining = append(remaining, m)