diff --git a/riot/stop.sh b/riot/stop.sh
index a3dc722e58..7ed18887f9 100755
--- a/riot/stop.sh
+++ b/riot/stop.sh
@@ -2,5 +2,8 @@
 BASE_DIR=$(readlink -f $(dirname $0))
 cd $BASE_DIR
 PIDFILE=riot.pid
-kill $(cat $PIDFILE)
-rm $PIDFILE
+if [ -f $PIDFILE ]; then
+	echo "stopping riot server ..."
+	kill $(cat $PIDFILE)
+	rm $PIDFILE
+fi