diff --git a/tests/topotests/lib/topotest.py b/tests/topotests/lib/topotest.py
index 61cf16944f..7f68b4ccf3 100644
--- a/tests/topotests/lib/topotest.py
+++ b/tests/topotests/lib/topotest.py
@@ -1888,15 +1888,16 @@ class Router(Node):
                 # Exclude empty string at end of list
                 for d in dmns[:-1]:
                     if re.search(r"%s" % daemon, d):
-                        daemonpid = self.cmd("cat %s" % d.rstrip()).rstrip()
+                        daemonpidfile = d.rstrip()
+                        daemonpid = self.cmd("cat %s" % daemonpidfile).rstrip()
                         if daemonpid.isdigit() and pid_exists(int(daemonpid)):
                             logger.info(
                                 "{}: killing {}".format(
                                     self.name,
-                                    os.path.basename(d.rstrip().rsplit(".", 1)[0]),
+                                    os.path.basename(daemonpidfile.rsplit(".", 1)[0]),
                                 )
                             )
-                            self.cmd("kill -9 %s" % daemonpid)
+                            os.kill(int(daemonpid), signal.SIGKILL)
                             if pid_exists(int(daemonpid)):
                                 numRunning += 1
                         while wait and numRunning > 0:
@@ -1922,12 +1923,12 @@ class Router(Node):
                                                 ),
                                             )
                                         )
-                                        self.cmd("kill -9 %s" % daemonpid)
+                                        os.kill(int(daemonpid), signal.SIGKILL)
                                     if daemonpid.isdigit() and not pid_exists(
                                         int(daemonpid)
                                     ):
                                         numRunning -= 1
-                        self.cmd("rm -- {}".format(d.rstrip()))
+                        self.cmd("rm -- {}".format(daemonpidfile))
                     if wait:
                         errors = self.checkRouterCores(reportOnce=True)
                         if self.checkRouterVersion("<", minErrorVersion):