diff --git a/vllm/distributed/kv_transfer/kv_connector/v1/nixl_connector.py b/vllm/distributed/kv_transfer/kv_connector/v1/nixl_connector.py
index de9cbc660666..1929037b41c7 100644
--- a/vllm/distributed/kv_transfer/kv_connector/v1/nixl_connector.py
+++ b/vllm/distributed/kv_transfer/kv_connector/v1/nixl_connector.py
@@ -1044,12 +1044,12 @@ def get_finished(self) -> tuple[set[str], set[str]]:
             if now < expires:
                 break
             count = self.consumer_notification_counts_by_req.pop(req_id, 0)
-            logger.warning(
-                "Releasing expired KV blocks for request %s which were "
-                "retrieved by %d decode worker(s) within %d seconds.", req_id,
-                count, envs.VLLM_NIXL_ABORT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT)
-            del self._reqs_to_send[req_id]
-            done_sending.add(req_id)
+            if self.try_remove_request(req_id, "timeout"):
+                done_sending.add(req_id)
+                logger.warning(
+                    "Releasing expired KV blocks for request %s which were "
+                    "retrieved by %d decode worker(s) within %d seconds.",
+                    req_id, count, envs.VLLM_NIXL_ABORT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT)
 
         return done_sending, done_recving
 
@@ -1074,9 +1074,14 @@ def _get_new_notifs(self) -> set[str]:
                 # Wait all consumers (D) to be done reading before freeing.
                 if self.consumer_notification_counts_by_req[req_id] == int(
                         tp_ratio):
-                    notified_req_ids.add(req_id)
                     del self.consumer_notification_counts_by_req[req_id]
-                    del self._reqs_to_send[req_id]
+                    if self.try_remove_request(req_id, "consumer_complete"):
+                        notified_req_ids.add(req_id)
+                    else:
+                        logger.debug(
+                            "Request %s completed by all consumers but was"
+                            "already removed (likely timed out)", req_id)
+
         return notified_req_ids
 
     def _pop_done_transfers(
@@ -1298,6 +1303,24 @@ def get_backend_aware_kv_block_len(self):
             block_len = self.block_len
         return block_len
 
+    def try_remove_request(self, req_id: str, reason: str) -> bool:
+        """
+        Safely remove a request from pending sends.
+        
+        Returns:
+            True if the request was removed, False if already gone.
+        """
+        timeout_value = self._reqs_to_send.pop(req_id, None)
+
+        if timeout_value is not None:
+            logger.debug("Removed request %s (reason: %s, was due at: %.2f)",
+                         req_id, reason, timeout_value)
+            return True
+        else:
+            logger.debug("Request %s already removed when attempting %s",
+                         req_id, reason)
+            return False
+
 
 @contextlib.contextmanager
 def zmq_ctx(socket_type: Any, addr: str) -> Iterator[zmq.Socket]: