Timothy E. Mande aka 'Mandi McCall'

Timothy Mande was best known as drag performer 'Mandi McCall'.

The story of the discovery of her death was written by Jamakaya and published in In Step magazine as follows:

Friends Mourn Drag Performer Mandi McCall, Murdered in Milwaukee
"Mandi Was Always There to Lend Her Talents."
By Jamakaya

Milwaukee — Joseph P. Flinchbaugh, 36, has been charged with first degree intentional homicide in the stabbing and strangulation murder of Timothy E. Mande, who was better known to many in Milwaukee's Gay community and bar scene as "Mandi McCall."

McCall's body was discovered by police just before midnight on Sunday, January 14 in her apartment on E. Meinecke Avenue. They were tipped off to the murder by a man, Mark Hanson, who earlier that evening had unknowingly picked up the suspected killer. Watching TV and sharing a few beers at Hanson's south side home, Flinchbaugh reportedly confessed the crime to Hanson, who then alerted police.

Hanson told In Step his frightening tale. He saw Flinchbaugh standing on the corner of S. Second and Oregon Streets that Sunday night. Hanson knew McCall and recognized Flinchbaugh as her partner whom he had met before. "It was right after the Packer play-off game.. so I stopped and invited him over for a few beers," Hanson explained.

Hanson says they watched TV for about an hour when Flinchbaugh began talking strangely, saying things like, "You don't know who I am. You don't know what I'm capable of doing." (Ed. Note: Hanson said this was paraphrased but as close to the truth as he recalls.)

"He began talking about Mandi and the fact that none of the other drag queens had seen her in three days. He then told me, 'I killed her, I took a knife and I slit her throat."

At about this time, Hanson noticed blood stains on Flinchbaugh's pants and realized he was probably telling the truth. "He started saying that he just wanted to see his kids, that he just wanted to see them once more before he was taken in."

Hanson then called a cab to take Flinchbaugh to see his children and, after he left, called 911, and told the police to check out Mandi's home. Homicide detectives interviewed Hanson for about three hours that night, and police officers converged on several Gay bars around closing time, apparently in search of the suspect. Flinchbaugh was arrested at 3:30am that same morning and charged with murder on January 18. He's being held on $90,000 cash bail.

One friend, Alvin Harris, said Mandi was "a warm and giving person to those who knew her close." Mandi worked as a key punch operator in the City's payroll office and worked at the polls on election days. Colleagues at City Hall spoke highly of Mandi. She was also a licensed cosmetologist and a make-up artist.

But Mandi was most widely known in the Gay community. Friends say she was the 1st Miss Fox Valley in 1985. In the 1980's, she was one of the 219 Girls. Most recently, she performed with troupes at C'est La Vie and 3B's.

"You could always count on Mandi to be there for a benefit, covering a range of causes from AIDS to softball," In Step publisher Ron Geiman noted. "Mandi was always there to lend her talents. She was a real character. Many in the community knew her as both a man and woman. She could always make people laugh."

Brittany Morgan met Mandi in 1982 and they became good friends a few years later. "We performed together all the time. If I wasn't in one of her shows, she was in one of mine. We did everything together: shopping and going to movies, I made most of her wardrobe."

"She had this expression she always used with me. After I'd done something, she'd say, "Atta- girl, Atta girl.' That's all I can hear her saying."

Brittany occupies an apartment in the four unit building in which Mandi lived and was killed. The other units are occupied by drag performers Tabitha Stevens and Billie Blaze. "It's been like one big house and one big family," Brittany commented, "until this. But we're all giving each other a lot of support."

"Tabby" and Billie had their own memories of Mandi Tabby said she was "my favorite person to be stranded with. Oooh hey, miss you."

Billie said: "I'll never forget the first words she said to me when we first met: 'If I had a swing like that, I'd take it apart and see how many screws I could get!'"

Mandi's friends suspect she may have been killed as early as Friday night. They all worked that night, and over the weekend all of them were home, but heard nothing. Brittany said they have since listened to her answering machine. The first message was recorded at 10:02 on Saturday morning, the last at 11:30 Sunday night. Because Mandi checked the machine pretty regularly, they believe she may already have been dead by Saturday morning.

Friends are very familiar with Flinchbaugh, who was said to have had an "off and on" relationship with Mandi for about three years. Several people describe their relationship as "turbulent," and said fights had broken out before, especially if they were both drinking. Some also speculated that Flinchbaugh had a problem accepting his Gayness.

"It's just so shocking that he could do something like this. It's horrible," Brittany said.

Friends gathered together at the Borgwardt Funeral Home and at Cest La Vie Friday, January 19 to mourn Mandi's passing.

Photo, date unknown
(Facebook contributor)

Photo, date unknown
(courtesy Jamie Taylor)

Photo, 2 months before death
(Facebook contrib. Nov. 1995)