diff --git a/src/services/resource-updater.js b/src/services/resource-updater.js
index 5abe66a1..5dfb7546 100644
--- a/src/services/resource-updater.js
+++ b/src/services/resource-updater.js
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { scopeManager } from 'forest-express';
+import createError from 'http-errors';
 import { ErrorHTTP422 } from './errors';
 import QueryOptions from './query-options';
 import ResourceGetter from './resource-getter';
@@ -29,6 +30,8 @@ class ResourceUpdater {
       } catch (error) {
         throw new ErrorHTTP422(error.message);
       }
+    } else {
+      throw createError(404, `The ${this._model.name} #${this._params.recordId} does not exist.`);
     }
 
     try {