diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/storage_layer.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/storage_layer.rs
index f52eee9904..5534239614 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/storage_layer.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/storage_layer.rs
@@ -232,16 +232,6 @@ impl ValuesReconstructState {
         self.io_concurrency.spawn_io(fut);
     }
 
-    /// Associate a key with the error which it encountered and mark it as done
-    pub(crate) fn on_key_error(&mut self, key: Key, err: PageReconstructError) {
-        let previous = self.keys.insert(key, Err(err));
-        if let Some(Ok(state)) = previous {
-            if state.situation == ValueReconstructSituation::Continue {
-                self.keys_done.add_key(key);
-            }
-        }
-    }
-
     pub(crate) fn on_layer_visited(&mut self, layer: &ReadableLayer) {
         self.layers_visited += 1;
         if let ReadableLayer::PersistentLayer(layer) = layer {
diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/storage_layer/image_layer.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/storage_layer/image_layer.rs
index db070d277b..bf3e43c5d5 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/storage_layer/image_layer.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/storage_layer/image_layer.rs
@@ -622,9 +622,6 @@ impl ImageLayerInner {
                 }
             }
 
-            // Why did on_key_error go away?
-            // There was a good reason for it ...
-
             let read_from = self.file.clone();
             let read_ctx = ctx.attached_child();
             reconstruct_state.spawn_io(async move {
@@ -657,7 +654,6 @@ impl ImageLayerInner {
                     }
                     Err(err) => {
                         for (_, sender) in senders {
-                            // TODO: when can this fail?
                             let _ = sender
                                 .send(Err(std::io::Error::new(err.kind(), "vec read failed")));
                         }