diff --git a/internal/handlers/auth.go b/internal/handlers/auth.go
index 0a1e464..bdac3ba 100644
--- a/internal/handlers/auth.go
+++ b/internal/handlers/auth.go
@@ -846,6 +846,8 @@ func (h *AuthHandler) DeleteUser(c echo.Context) error {
 	// Count admin users and identify the user to be deleted
 	adminCount := 0
 	targetUserRole := ""
+	userFound := false
+
 	for _, user := range users {
 		if user.Role == "admin" {
 			adminCount++
@@ -853,9 +855,19 @@ func (h *AuthHandler) DeleteUser(c echo.Context) error {
 		// Find target user details
 		if user.ID.Bytes == targetUserUUID.Bytes {
 			targetUserRole = user.Role
+			userFound = true
+			// Can't break here - still need to count all admins for last admin check
 		}
 	}
 
+	// Check if target user exists in the database
+	if !userFound {
+		if c.Request().Header.Get("HX-Request") == "true" {
+			return c.HTML(http.StatusNotFound, `<div class="text-red-500">User not found</div>`)
+		}
+		return c.JSON(http.StatusNotFound, map[string]string{"error": "user not found"})
+	}
+
 	// Prevent deletion if target user is admin and this is the last admin
 	if targetUserRole == "admin" && adminCount == 1 {
 		if c.Request().Header.Get("HX-Request") == "true" {