Nov. 12, 2025 4:00p; Edited at 8:30p
(WGTD)---A man accused of killing his live-in girlfriend in Racine Monday was a registered sex offender who had just moved to Wisconsin from South Dakota.
46-year-old Benjamin Chipps is facing a charge of 1st Degree Intentional Homicide. The victim was identified by family as Joyce Bongo.
According to the criminal complaint, the pair had moved into the second floor of a home in the 1700 blk. of Holmes Ave. about a week-and-a-half ago. The relationship between the pair and the occupant of the first floor is unclear.
The first-floor resident told police he was watching TV Sunday night with his son when heard a loud argument and stomping coming from upstairs. Instead of intervening, the man said he turned up the sound on the TV. Later that night, the man said Chipps came downstairs to smoke a cigarette on the back porch and that he seemed normal.
The next morning, the man said he heard the defendant taking a shower, but did not hear the woman's voice. The man said he and his son then left at 8:15.
Just minutes later, police and paramedics were dispatched to the home on a report of a woman not breathing.
They found Bongo unresponsive in the area of the bathroom with "significant" facial bruising and lacerations. She was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospital.
An autopsy listed numerous bruises, lacerations and fractures, and that the woman was likely strangled.
Chipps' record includes failing to register as a sex offender, drug possession and aggravated sexual abuse.
Chipps is being held on a $750,000 bond.
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