diff --git a/agent/proxy/daemon.go b/agent/proxy/daemon.go
index e1ec2e1b0..15950c196 100644
--- a/agent/proxy/daemon.go
+++ b/agent/proxy/daemon.go
@@ -342,9 +342,11 @@ func (p *Daemon) UnmarshalSnapshot(m map[string]interface{}) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	// TODO(mitchellh): we should check if proc refers to a process that
-	// is currently alive. If not, we should return here and not manage the
-	// process.
+	// FindProcess on many systems returns no error even if the process
+	// is now dead. We perform an extra check that the process is alive.
+	if err := processAlive(proc); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 
 	// "Start it"
 	stopCh := make(chan struct{})
diff --git a/agent/proxy/daemon_test.go b/agent/proxy/daemon_test.go
index 6e74cdf88..a96e90699 100644
--- a/agent/proxy/daemon_test.go
+++ b/agent/proxy/daemon_test.go
@@ -372,6 +372,7 @@ func TestDaemonUnmarshalSnapshot(t *testing.T) {
 		ProxyToken: uuid,
 		Logger:     testLogger,
 	}
+	defer d.Stop()
 	require.NoError(d.Start())
 
 	// Wait for the file to exist
@@ -408,3 +409,43 @@ func TestDaemonUnmarshalSnapshot(t *testing.T) {
 		r.Fatalf("should not exist: %s", err)
 	})
 }
+
+func TestDaemonUnmarshalSnapshot_notRunning(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	require := require.New(t)
+	td, closer := testTempDir(t)
+	defer closer()
+
+	path := filepath.Join(td, "file")
+	uuid, err := uuid.GenerateUUID()
+	require.NoError(err)
+
+	d := &Daemon{
+		Command:    helperProcess("start-stop", path),
+		ProxyToken: uuid,
+		Logger:     testLogger,
+	}
+	defer d.Stop()
+	require.NoError(d.Start())
+
+	// Wait for the file to exist
+	retry.Run(t, func(r *retry.R) {
+		_, err := os.Stat(path)
+		if err == nil {
+			return
+		}
+
+		r.Fatalf("error: %s", err)
+	})
+
+	// Snapshot
+	snap := d.MarshalSnapshot()
+
+	// Stop the original daemon
+	require.NoError(d.Stop())
+
+	// Restore the second daemon
+	d2 := &Daemon{Logger: testLogger}
+	require.Error(d2.UnmarshalSnapshot(snap))
+}
diff --git a/agent/proxy/process_unix.go b/agent/proxy/process_unix.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6db64c59c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/agent/proxy/process_unix.go
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+// +build !windows
+
+package proxy
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"syscall"
+)
+
+// processAlive for non-Windows. Note that this very likely doesn't
+// work for all non-Windows platforms Go supports and we should expand
+// support as we experience it.
+func processAlive(p *os.Process) error {
+	// On Unix-like systems, we can verify a process is alive by sending
+	// a 0 signal. This will do nothing to the process but will still
+	// return errors if the process is gone.
+	err := p.Signal(syscall.Signal(0))
+	if err == nil || err == syscall.EPERM {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	return err
+}
diff --git a/agent/proxy/process_windows.go b/agent/proxy/process_windows.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0268958e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/agent/proxy/process_windows.go
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+// +build windows
+
+package proxy
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+)
+
+func processAlive(p *os.Process) error {
+	// On Windows, os.FindProcess will error if the process is not alive,
+	// so we don't have to do any further checking. The nature of it being
+	// non-nil means it seems to be healthy.
+	if p == nil {
+		return fmt.Errof("process no longer alive")
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}