diff --git a/src/Composer/Json/JsonManipulator.php b/src/Composer/Json/JsonManipulator.php
index 1cb9ff79e..0ca020ad7 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Json/JsonManipulator.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Json/JsonManipulator.php
@@ -222,6 +222,8 @@ class JsonManipulator
                     }
                 }
             }
+        } else {
+            $childrenClean = $children;
         }
 
         // no child data left, $name was the only key in
diff --git a/tests/Composer/Test/Json/JsonManipulatorTest.php b/tests/Composer/Test/Json/JsonManipulatorTest.php
index f4097dcca..9b55efb2d 100644
--- a/tests/Composer/Test/Json/JsonManipulatorTest.php
+++ b/tests/Composer/Test/Json/JsonManipulatorTest.php
@@ -347,6 +347,27 @@ class JsonManipulatorTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
         }
     }
 }
+'
+            ),
+            'works on undefined ones' => array(
+                '{
+    "repositories": {
+        "main": {
+            "foo": "bar",
+            "bar": "baz"
+        }
+    }
+}',
+                'removenotthere',
+                true,
+                '{
+    "repositories": {
+        "main": {
+            "foo": "bar",
+            "bar": "baz"
+        }
+    }
+}
 '
             ),
             'works on empty repos' => array(