Who is Red John?

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List of seven

Thomas McAllister
Thomas McAllister
Reede Smith
Reede Smith
Ray Haffner
Ray Haffner
Gale Bertram
Gale Bertram
Brett Partridge
Brett Partridge
Bret Stiles
Bret Stiles
Bob Kirkland
Bob Kirkland

LATEST THEORIES

I couldn't help myself... I had to stop doing homework to write this up, so anyway, here it is. Mashburn's ring. It's bothered me quite a bit for some time (the lack of a solid explanation), so here I go. 

First, we have to take into account what we know. 
1 - His ring is plain and gold. 
2 - He wears his ring on his right hand. 

So, first we have to ask ourselves, what kind of ring is this? http://www.ehow.com/facts_5004268_what-right-hand-ring.html This link explains how to choose a right hand ring and their purpose ("dress ring"). They tend to be elaborate. There doesn't even seem to be an example of a right hand ring that doesn't have a stone. Furthermore, if one were to be very rich (billionaire) a plain gold ring on their right hand would be embarrassing due to its function (dress ring). Bear in mind that Mashburn has been extremely wealthy for ~15 years (ages 30-45). There's no way that he still operates as a freshly wealthy person. He's been in the in crowd for too long to not understand how to dress/decorate himself. We can also consider him someone who is deeply concerned with his personal appearance from 3 pieces of evidence. Jane says he has, "a mild dirt phobia and thinks he sweats two much." Those two things indicate someone who is self conscious. The third thing is that Mashburn is narcissitic, by his own analysis. Those three things in combination with how long he's been rich make it highly unlikely that he doesn't know how to dress/decorate himself. 

So why would an someone who is smart/has been rich for a good while/narcissitic wear a plain cheap wedding ring? Well, because it is a wedding band. Not only does it look like a wedding band, but a man like Walter Mashburn would not be seen wearing a cheap looking band unless it had sentimental value. Here's a link that describes why people wear a wedding ring on their right hand: http://www.ehow.com/facts_5150243_do-wedding-ring-right-hand_.html Among the list are 2 major possibilities: Widowhood, and Left handedness. First I'll explain why I don't consider the other 3 to be viable reasons. Culture: Walter isn't from Greece, India, Poland, etc. He seems to have been living in America for a very long time and is probably very American. Infidelity: Walter isn't married. Gay: It's pretty clear that Walter is heterosexual. Family Heirloom: I do not believe this to be reasonable. First, I don't even know if it applies to male wedding bands. However, we don't know anything about his family history beyond his mother. Furthermore, Walter is new money and I will explain the importance of that later. So we are left with only one real possibility. Although left handedness is quite possible, Walter is not married, so we can't conclude that it SHOULD be on his left hand. So, we can conclude that Walter wore the ring on his right hand because he is still has strong sentiments toward the woman he loved. It is important to note that you don't buy a wedding band the day of your marriage, you buy one when you plan on getting married (engagement). Furthermore, many people like to buy engagement rings with their wedding band so that they can wear them together post marriage. So it makes perfect sense for Walter to pick up the wedding band while buying the wedding band for his fiance. 

So I'd like to stop here and move on to the hooker that I believe wrote, "he is mar." I've written arguments for it being the hooker and for it being "married" before, so I won't waste my time doing it here. If you wish to argue this point, please divert your attention to my theory (1370). So the first point I do want to focus on is, would she consider a ring on his right hand married? Well she is a hooker, and that means she's probably encountered men who are cheating on their wives. One of the six reasons listed for wearing a ring on your right hand was infidelity. It's not unlikely that she's seen men wearing a wedding band on their right hand while they were cheating. Furthermore, she could believe that he was wearing the ring on his right hand because he was left handed, which is also another reason that people wear a wedding ring on their righ thand. Then there's the fact that she wasn't casually examining him, she was being murdered by him. All three of those arguments could explain her declaring a wedding band on the right hand as a statement of marriage. But that's not the only question we have to ask. When was Walter last married? We don't see Walter until season 2 and by then Jared had been killed a year ago. He could have been married when he killed Jared. 

Moving away from the hooker, I want to bring up why Walter took his ring off between s2e13 and s3e7. I'm going to offer all the reasons I can. He didn't want Jane to see it, or because he wanted to try to get Lisbon (not that the ring impaired him before, just that it might be a ticking time bomb if he spent more time around her). He may have lost the need for the ring (it could have been a reminder that of his loss to Yuri) and now he had finally won, he was good enough to take it off. He could have fallen in love with someone else (bear in mind Miranda Martins was killed in 2007 and we first see lorelei in 2012. This means that Mashburn got with her sometime within that timeframe. The question isn't how long would it take him to win her, it's how long would it take her to win him (if this was the case). I do not personally believe that Lorelei could win RJ over, however, I want to point out that she calls RJ out on his, "relentless manipulation," which seems to be something exclusive to her. No one else indicates that RJ has a bad side, except for Roslind calling him cruel for leaving without a trace. It could indicate a number of things, none of which I'm going to comment on, I'll leave it to you. He could have not wanted Yuri to see him wearing the ring that symbolizes his defeat to him (this episode takes place within the time frame of 1-2 days I think, and the final night Walter is seen at a hotel, which might indicate that he stayed in that side of town over night prior to sleeping with Lisbon).
 
It might also be important to note that Mashburn still hates Yuri, after all this time. The fact that he still harbors that type of hate for Yuri indicates two things. One, that he lost a sense of his self worth because he couldn't keep his woman from leaving him for Yuri, and two, that he cares for Mrs. Bajoran (if not, why wouldn't he hate her too for leaving him and why would he harbor such hatred for Yuri if Yuri didn't still have what he wanted [his wife]). Super long sentence... 

Well, that was quite a bit of text, but I'm ready to conclude now. I'll tell you what I think to be the case. I think Mashburn wears the ring because it has sentimental value (similar to Mercedes' promise to Edmond in the Count of Monte Cristo or as a remind to himself that he wasn't good enough to win Mrs. Bajoran), and I think that he didn't wear the ring to see Yuri because he either didn't need to given that he'd finally beat Yuri and redeemed his self worth that he lost with Mrs. Bajoran, or because he didn't want Yuri to potentially see his weakness, especially when it was supposed to be his moment of triumph. 

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Theory #1400 • By Bogdan_PBI
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I hope J. Laroche is RJ,i hate him so much(his face & manner of speaking)  ! The final of the show has to be great otherwise i will "delete" it from my mind ASAP ! Patrick can't be RJ,will be such a bullshit !!

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SPOILER ALERT FOR THE LAST EPISODE "RED BARN", SKIP THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT!!!


We think it's Agent Ray Haffner who is a senior agent and seems shady. He offered Lisbon a job at a private detective in this episode. Lisbon finds out this firm is funded by Visualize and it appears like the job offer is to get her away from the Red John Case and Patrick Jane.

She finds out Ray is a member of visualize and also worked at the barn where the 3 bodies were found. AT THE END (more spoiler!!!!)...


...when Lisbon questioned if Ray worked on Ellis's farm (back in the 80's, at the barn), he didn't really answer the question and then he left.   

WE THINK HE MIGHT BE RED JOHN!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAHHH!!!! LOL. :) ...or it's Ben Stiles. 

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Red John: I don't think its Bret Stiles but the cult itself, the hierachy anyway.  Here is why. Red John is methodical, seducing, patient, inspiring, eligant in a twisted sense, polite, and way off its rocker. As I describe red john, I also described the cult visualize. They are very methodical and patient. Also who can be in that many places, be so resourceful, and have that many followers? A cult. It makes more sense as a group. Finally every episode visualize finds themselve in trouble it almost seems like there more desturbed over hurting their own identity and not who ever was killed.

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When I first saw Redline, the episode where Walter Mashburn
is introduced, I thought that he would become a regular character for sure. I
noticed that his relationship with jane and lisbon was very different than any
other murder suspect in any other episode. He enjoyed their company. He was
affable. It seemed that he could be good friends with jane. But then after that
episode he disappeared for a while. I thought that was kind of strange. It
seemed to me that the writers wanted to make him somewhat memorable but not
necessarily expected to be seen again. Then when he reappeared in Red Hot, I
thought "Aha! There he is!" But why did the writers bring him in
again? They could've chosen another character to fill his role in the episode,
right? And then after that episode, he was gone again! Even though he slept with Lisbon! That's when I started to suspect him of being RJ. The more I've thought
about it, the more I am convinced and have come up with the following
conclusions.



I cannot think of anybody throughout the entire series that is more like Jane
than Walter Mashburn. He is likeable. He likes to have fun. In the Redline
episode he joked at the thought of being a murder suspect. He enjoyed it. Could
you see Jane doing the same thing if he were in that situation? Absolutely!
Anybody else would be scared witless, angry, they might even laugh at the idea if
they knew they were innocent but they certainly wouldn't joke about it the way
Mashburn did. It was as if he was saying, "Come on! Try and catch me! I dare you!" But he did it in such an innocent way that you liked the guy for it. Just like you like Jane even though he's being a pest. Also in the redline episode as jane and Mashburn are walking on
the beach mashburn admits to being arrogant, hates to be ignored, cunning,
ruthless, etc. Sound like Jane to you? Sure does! At the end of the episode,
Mashburn says that in order to top the fun he and jane had together during the
investigation that maybe next time "I'll be the killer". So Patrick
Jane! Light and jovial on the outside but very dark and twisted on the inside,
assuming Mashburn is RJ, of course.



Why do I bring this up? Lorelai said that jane and RJ are a lot alike.
Manipulative and deceitful. she said it's no wonder they're not lifelong
friends. Can you imagine anybody who could be better friends with Jane than
Mashburn, based on personality alone? I can't! Then the question begs, why
aren't they best friends already? The answer is because they've only been
around each other twice. Given more time I'm sure they would be. But I think
Mashburn is purposely keeping some distance because he wants Jane to seek him
out rather than vice versa. But you also have to get into Heller's head a
little bit (not just red john's) as to why Mashburn is not seen more on the
show if he really is RJ. Because that would give it away! Once it's obvious who
RJ is the show has lost its appeal and thus would lose viewers. That's not what
Heller wants!



Another thing that convinces me that it's mashburn is that he slept with
lisbon. Again, I'm getting into Heller's head here but he could've chosen
anybody for Lisbon to be intimate with, but how much of a plot twister would it
be if it was Red John?  It's genious because the scene is very light and
somewhat comical, which is what Heller wants you to think. He wants you to
think, "Oh! She slept with that charlatan! That's funny!". And then
you forget about it because it was just a comedic side story. The scene plays
light music and becomes even more humorous once lisbon walks out of mashburn's
place taking the phone call as if this was only a one night stand. As if she is
in complete control of the relationship. Mashburn manipulated her to think that
she was. Heller is a master of distraction. Could you imagine that scene having
a completely different mood if the music were scary and we knew that mashburn
was RJ? Don't be surprised if that exact thing happens later in the show as a
flashback, once we've discovered that Mashburn is RJ.



The last clue, though subtle and maybe even a little far fetched, is the color
of the two cars in Redline (and colors involving Mashburn, in general). The
first is mashburn's yellow lambourghini. The second is the red car that was
used to commit the murder. If mashburn really is RJ, then there are obviously
two sides to him: the side that we see as mashburn who is fun and entertaining
(yellow), and the dark side that is a twisted serial killer (red). Right after
Mashburn says that maybe next time "I'll be the killer", the camera
focuses on the red car in the background. Masburn wears red clothes in a couple
scenes including that very red turtle neck on Red Hot, and he owns that red
speed boat. Do you think that maybe Heller is trying to give us a symbolic clue
here? Maybe. I don't know. The thing is... it's not blatantly obvious, it's
very subtle. You have to be paying attention to catch it.



Bottom line. If mashburn is not RJ I'll be shocked. he's the perfect candidate.
Not because there is a lot of hard evidence against him so far, but because he
would make for the best story. It would be ironic, and it would also be a
"how did I not see that before! It was so obvious the whole time!"
moment once you discovered it was him. If RJ is somebody else and all of these
clues about mashburn are just a coincidence, then that's a very huge
coincidence in my opinion. All these people that think Partridge is RJ just
because of his voice must think that the writers are pretty shallow. Do you
really think they would make it that obvious? Giv'em a little more credit than
that!






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Theory #1394 • By UlrikNorway
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I'm having some difficulty trying to figure out who RJ is. Although this is hardly a real suggestion, what about Volker?

Jane has had brief encounters with him, not good friends, but contact. He is very into Lisbon and enjoys playing games with her so I would actually think it's not to far fetched thinking he would kill someone for pleasure. Although in the episode where you see the kid with the car playing and then a guy gets strangled to death, he doesn't do anything. ALTHOUGH from my personal point of view he urges to do something, perhaps taking a life.

I know it's not a very trustworthy theory, but could someone perhaps dive into this theory? He has been in the focus of the latest season extremely much, which RJ was early on in the previous seasons, maybe he has taken RJs place?

I'll read upon the possibilities of this, but perhaps someone has already excluded him? Would be fun to know ^^

Have fun on your investigations :)

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I’m not accusing anyone of being Red John, but there are
some interesting points I haven’t seen being mentioned anywhere:

In the last episode of season three,” Strawberries and Cream”,
minute 32, when LaRoche arrives to take Gupta, he addresses Lisbon and Jane and
says well done to them. But just note the tone of his voice and that he is actually
staring at Gupta in a very meaningful manner when he utters those words, as if
he was addressing him, sarcastically of course, to which Gupta responds also
meaningfully, as if being rebuked because of his lack of success. LaRoche then asks
if he has given them anything to which Jane responds “Not a thing.”, and less
than a minute later Gupta is killed by LaRoche. So what do you think about that?
Is it a real clue to LaRoche being in contact with Red John or even Visualize
for that matter? Or is it another red herring thing?

And a little and probably farfetched hunch about Father
Debuono in the last episode, “Red Barn”. I suspect him of being in contact with
Red John or at least knowing his identity, because he revisited the farm at the
time in which Red John supposedly worked there, his time with Visualize was an
early stage in a long spiritual journey, seemed not to be telling the truth
about not being aware of the symbolic meaning of the smiley face drawing on the
wall of the barn, which seemed strange to Jane as well, and to explain his
ignorance mentioned that he was a missionary in central America, which
increases the possibility of him crossing Mexico, and I don’t know how exactly but
makes me suspect him as a possible candidate for the person who killed Jarred
Renfrew and the hooker, because the smiley face drawn on the wall of the
bathroom was not the first thing a person entering that room would see, but the
first thing we saw, maybe to mislead us.

What do you think?

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