diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/sigproc.cc b/winsup/cygwin/sigproc.cc
index 5c5ff73f0a..18c7bd2648 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/sigproc.cc
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/sigproc.cc
@@ -410,7 +410,7 @@ proc_terminate ()
 	  if (!have_execed || !have_execed_cygwin)
 	    chld_procs[i]->ppid = 1;
 	  if (chld_procs[i].wait_thread)
-	    chld_procs[i].wait_thread->terminate_thread ();
+	    CancelSynchronousIo (chld_procs[i].wait_thread->thread_handle ());
 	  /* Release memory associated with this process unless it is 'myself'.
 	     'myself' is only in the chld_procs table when we've execed.  We
 	     reach here when the next process has finished initializing but we