diff --git a/frontend_tests/node_tests/people.js b/frontend_tests/node_tests/people.js
index e705770ccb..b38a7a0d3f 100644
--- a/frontend_tests/node_tests/people.js
+++ b/frontend_tests/node_tests/people.js
@@ -84,30 +84,6 @@ var _ = global._;
     assert.equal(person.full_name, 'Original');
 }());
 
-(function test_reify() {
-    var full_person = {
-        email: 'foo@example.com',
-        full_name: 'Foo Barson'
-    };
-
-    // If we don't have a skeleton object, this should quietly succeed.
-    people.reify(full_person);
-
-    var skeleton = {
-        email: 'foo@example.com',
-        full_name: 'foo@example.com',
-        skeleton: true
-    };
-    people.add(skeleton);
-
-    people.reify(full_person);
-    var person = people.get_by_email('foo@example.com');
-    assert.equal(person.full_name, 'Foo Barson');
-
-    // Our follow-up reify() call should also quietly succeed.
-    people.reify(full_person);
-}());
-
 (function test_get_rest_of_realm() {
     var myself = {
         email: 'myself@example.com',
diff --git a/static/js/echo.js b/static/js/echo.js
index 5071ed65ca..3e70b1afd8 100644
--- a/static/js/echo.js
+++ b/static/js/echo.js
@@ -151,10 +151,14 @@ function insert_local_message(message_request, local_id) {
         message.display_recipient = _.map(emails, function (email) {
             email = email.trim();
             var person = people.get_by_email(email);
-            if (person !== undefined) {
+            if (person === undefined) {
+                // For unknown users, we return a skeleton object.
+                return {email: email, full_name: email,
+                        unknown_local_echo_user: true};
+            } else {
+                // NORMAL PATH
                 return person;
             }
-            return {email: email, full_name: email, skeleton: true};
         });
     }
 
@@ -232,22 +236,6 @@ exports.process_from_server = function process_from_server(messages) {
                 updated = true;
                 compose.mark_rendered_content_disparity(message.id, true);
             }
-            // If a PM was sent to an out-of-realm address,
-            // we didn't have the full person object originally,
-            // so we might have to update the recipient bar and
-            // internal data structures
-            if (client_message.type === 'private') {
-                var reply_to = message_store.get_private_message_recipient(message, 'full_name', 'email');
-                if (client_message.display_reply_to !== reply_to) {
-                    client_message.display_reply_to = reply_to;
-                    _.each(message.display_recipient, function (person) {
-                        if (people.get_by_email(person.email).full_name !== person.full_name) {
-                            people.reify(person);
-                        }
-                    });
-                    updated = true;
-                }
-            }
             msgs_to_rerender.push(client_message);
             locally_processed_ids.push(client_message.id);
             compose.report_as_received(client_message);
diff --git a/static/js/message_store.js b/static/js/message_store.js
index 90f43eb0a9..202d5d1816 100644
--- a/static/js/message_store.js
+++ b/static/js/message_store.js
@@ -128,19 +128,15 @@ function add_message_metadata(message) {
 
     // Add new people involved in this message to the people list
     _.each(involved_people, function (person) {
-        // Do the hasOwnProperty() call via the prototype to avoid problems
-        // with keys like "hasOwnProperty"
-        if (! people.get_by_email(person.email)) {
-            people.add(person);
-        }
+        if (!person.unknown_local_echo_user) {
+            if (! people.get_by_email(person.email)) {
+                people.add(person);
+            }
 
-        if (people.get_by_email(person.email).full_name !== person.full_name) {
-            people.reify(person);
-        }
-
-        if (message.type === 'private' && message.sent_by_me) {
-            // Track the number of PMs we've sent to this person to improve autocomplete
-            people.incr_recipient_count(person.email);
+            if (message.type === 'private' && message.sent_by_me) {
+                // Track the number of PMs we've sent to this person to improve autocomplete
+                people.incr_recipient_count(person.email);
+            }
         }
     });
 
diff --git a/static/js/people.js b/static/js/people.js
index a43a7119f8..af15823e70 100644
--- a/static/js/people.js
+++ b/static/js/people.js
@@ -129,35 +129,6 @@ exports.remove = function remove(person) {
     realm_people_dict.del(person.email);
 };
 
-exports.reify = function reify(person) {
-    // If a locally sent message is a PM to
-    // an out-of-realm recipient, a people_dict
-    // entry is created with simply an email address
-    // Once we've received the full person object, replace
-    // it
-    if (! people_dict.has(person.email)) {
-        return;
-    }
-
-    var old_person = people_dict.get(person.email);
-
-    // Only overwrite skeleton objects here.  If the object
-    // had already been reified, exit early.
-    if (!old_person.skeleton) {
-        return;
-    }
-
-    var new_person = _.extend({}, old_person, person);
-    new_person.skeleton = false;
-
-    people_dict.set(person.email, person);
-    people_by_name_dict.set(person.full_name, person);
-
-    if (people_by_name_dict.has(person.email)) {
-        people_by_name_dict.del(person.email);
-    }
-};
-
 exports.update = function update(person) {
     if (! people_dict.has(person.email)) {
         blueslip.error("Got update_person event for unexpected user",