diff --git a/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/RepositoryEntityController.java b/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/RepositoryEntityController.java
index e340c9d1a..7de04c17f 100644
--- a/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/RepositoryEntityController.java
+++ b/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/RepositoryEntityController.java
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@
  * @author Oliver Gierke
  * @author Greg Turnquist
  * @author Jeremy Rickard
+ * @author Jeroen Reijn
  */
 @RepositoryRestController
 class RepositoryEntityController extends AbstractRepositoryRestController implements ApplicationEventPublisherAware {
@@ -103,7 +104,6 @@ class RepositoryEntityController extends AbstractRepositoryRestController implem
 	 * @param config must not be {@literal null}.
 	 * @param entityLinks must not be {@literal null}.
 	 * @param assembler must not be {@literal null}.
-	 * @param auditableBeanWrapperFactory must not be {@literal null}.
 	 */
 	@Autowired
 	public RepositoryEntityController(Repositories repositories, RepositoryRestConfiguration config,
@@ -337,7 +337,7 @@ public ResponseEntity<Resource<?>> getItemResource(RootResourceInformation resou
 			return resourceStatus.getStatusAndHeaders(headers, it, entity).toResponseEntity(//
 					() -> assembler.toFullResource(it));
 
-		}).orElseGet(() -> new ResponseEntity<Resource<?>>(HttpStatus.NOT_FOUND));
+		}).orElseThrow(() -> new ResourceNotFoundException());
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/RepositoryEntityControllerTest.java b/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/RepositoryEntityControllerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6a641b620
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/RepositoryEntityControllerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.springframework.data.rest.webmvc;
+
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.spy;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+import java.util.Collections;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.mockito.Mock;
+import org.mockito.junit.MockitoJUnitRunner;
+import org.springframework.data.keyvalue.core.mapping.KeyValuePersistentEntity;
+import org.springframework.data.keyvalue.core.mapping.context.KeyValueMappingContext;
+import org.springframework.data.mapping.context.PersistentEntities;
+import org.springframework.data.repository.support.Repositories;
+import org.springframework.data.repository.support.RepositoryInvoker;
+import org.springframework.data.rest.core.config.RepositoryRestConfiguration;
+import org.springframework.data.rest.core.mapping.PersistentEntitiesResourceMappings;
+import org.springframework.data.rest.core.mapping.ResourceMappings;
+import org.springframework.data.rest.core.mapping.ResourceMetadata;
+import org.springframework.data.rest.webmvc.support.RepositoryEntityLinks;
+import org.springframework.data.web.PagedResourcesAssembler;
+
+/**
+ * Unit tests for {@link RepositoryEntityController}
+ *
+ * @author Jeroen Reijn
+ */
+@RunWith(MockitoJUnitRunner.class)
+public class RepositoryEntityControllerTest {
+
+	@Mock Repositories repositories;
+	@Mock RepositoryRestConfiguration restConfiguration;
+	@Mock RepositoryEntityLinks repositoryEntityLinks;
+	@Mock HttpHeadersPreparer httpHeadersPreparer;
+	@Mock RepositoryInvoker invoker;
+	@Mock PagedResourcesAssembler<Object> assembler;
+
+	KeyValueMappingContext<?, ?> mappingContext = new KeyValueMappingContext<>();
+
+	@Test(expected = ResourceNotFoundException.class) // DATAREST-1143
+	public void testUnknownItemThrowsResourceNotFound() throws Exception {
+
+		KeyValuePersistentEntity<?, ?> entity = mappingContext
+				.getRequiredPersistentEntity(RepositoryPropertyReferenceControllerUnitTests.Sample.class);
+
+		ResourceMappings mappings = new PersistentEntitiesResourceMappings(
+				new PersistentEntities(Collections.singleton(mappingContext)));
+
+		ResourceMetadata metadata = spy(
+				mappings.getMetadataFor(RepositoryPropertyReferenceControllerUnitTests.Sample.class));
+
+		when(metadata.getSupportedHttpMethods())
+				.thenReturn(RepositoryPropertyReferenceControllerUnitTests.AllSupportedHttpMethods.INSTANCE);
+
+		RootResourceInformation information = new RootResourceInformation(metadata, entity, invoker);
+		RepositoryEntityController repositoryEntityController = new RepositoryEntityController(repositories,
+				restConfiguration, repositoryEntityLinks, assembler, httpHeadersPreparer);
+		repositoryEntityController.getItemResource(information, "1", null, null);
+	}
+
+}