diff --git a/examples/beamsh/beamsh.go b/examples/beamsh/beamsh.go
index d83fbe7b78..6f889149c2 100644
--- a/examples/beamsh/beamsh.go
+++ b/examples/beamsh/beamsh.go
@@ -67,8 +67,10 @@ func CmdCat(args []string, f *os.File) {
 func CmdEcho(args []string, f *os.File) {
 	resp, err := beam.FdConn(int(f.Fd()))
 	if err != nil {
+		Fatal(err)
 		return
 	}
+	defer resp.Close()
 	r, w, err := os.Pipe()
 	if err != nil {
 		return
diff --git a/unix.go b/unix.go
index 7dfff8a1ac..14326ac7da 100644
--- a/unix.go
+++ b/unix.go
@@ -199,13 +199,14 @@ func USocketPair() (*net.UnixConn, *net.UnixConn, error) {
 
 // FdConn wraps a file descriptor in a standard *net.UnixConn object, or
 // returns an error if the file descriptor does not point to a unix socket.
+// This creates a duplicate file descriptor. It's the caller's responsibility
+// to close both.
 func FdConn(fd int) (*net.UnixConn, error) {
 	f := os.NewFile(uintptr(fd), fmt.Sprintf("%d", fd))
 	conn, err := net.FileConn(f)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	f.Close()
 	uconn, ok := conn.(*net.UnixConn)
 	if !ok {
 		conn.Close()