Red John is one of the visualize. He is a man (for sure), and he was in Alison farm, I think he started before the age of 30.

RAY HAFFNER is Red John.

Rosalind Harker described Red John as tall, not muscular, but not soft. Short & straight hair.  This fits Ray Haffner's appearance.

Lorelei Martins said she can't understand why Patrick Jane and Red John didn't become best friends the moment they shook hands.  Ray Haffner and Jane shook hands in Season 4, episode 2 when they worked together.  They didn't get along well.

Ray Haffner is all about surveilance, so it makes sense that he knows a lot about Patrick and the team's whereabouts and plans.

Ray Haffner transfered from the FBI to CBI, and we know what Red John has connections in the FBI and also CBI.

Ray is planning to leave the CBI and wants to take Lisbon with.  This is obviously part of the plan to get to Patrick.

Ray confessed that he is a member of Visualise.  He refused to answer Lison when she asked him if he worked on Aliston farm, the Visualise farm where the red john symbol is painted on the barn.

To sum up:  Ray shook Jane's hand.  They know each other, but are not friends.  Ray most definitely worked on Alliston farm.

RAY might be ROY...

The only thing that doesn't fit is the voice.  But he might be good with changing his voice?

BOB KIRKLAND (Bob Kirkland appeared in Season 2???)

       Bruno Heller has said [Jane isn't up against the green river killer; he's up against Moriarty.] Professor Moriarty is the evil genius and antagonist to Sherlock Holmes.

'He [Moriarty] sits motionless, like a spider in the centre of its web, but that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows well every quiver of each of them. He does little himself. He only plans. But his agents are numerous and splendidly organised. Is there a crime to be done, a paper to be abstracted, we will say, a house to be rifled, a man to be removed - the word is passed to the Professor, the matter is organised and carried out.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote-The Final Problem

        As far as age and physical description Bob Kirkland fits the bill. And if you've ever seen Kevin Corrigan on the TV sitcom "Grounded 
for Life" you'd be sure he can pull off the RJ voice. He's got the eyes 
to match the crying smiley. XD

         I always believed that Bob Kirkland would be far too obvious.
I'm now liking the idea of a double bluff so to speak.
But what has turned me to Bob Kirkland is the Season 2 episode
HIS RED RIGHT HAND. s2e8.
   
         In s2e8 RJ has Bosco's team killed.
Later, Minelli is giving a press conference outside the CBI building.
He talks to Lisbon after the conference and in the background...slightly out of focus....a black car and a man who is obviously the Kirkland character calls Minelli over. This now makes sense because we've seen the season 5 episodes with Kirkland. We now know Minelli was reporting to him...
       So was the Bob Kirkland character already in mind and hashed out among the writers and producers as early as Season2???? And why??
    This also makes sense with the hint Bruno Heller gave saying we(the audience) may have already seen RJ.
         
      Go back and watch this part guys... it was a bit creepy when i noticed this. Forced me to lean a bit more toward Kirkland as RJ. Hiding in plain sight. At the center of a web.  If you don't have the season2 dvds you can stream the episodes from project free tv. Just google that. I know they still have working season 2 links.
      
     Bye for now,

1. It's all about syndication. In sorting this out the first thing to keep in mind is that The Mentalist is not a novel or an indie movie, but a rather large business enterprise. Simon Baker, for example, got a $30 million contract for seasons five and six. That only pays out if the show does well in syndication, and the show won't do well in syndication if a Red John is unveiled that kills the appeal of the show. That means that you can be sure Red John won't turn out to be one of the attractive heroes of the show - it won't be Patrick Jane or any member of Lisbon's team. 

2. They may never tell us. The Fugitive was a long running TV hit in the 60s, and everyone thought it would dominate in syndication. It flopped in syndication because the final episode solved the mystery by allowing the protagonist to finally catch the one armed man who had killed his wife. Once the mystery was solved, no one cared about seeing the reruns. That has haunted producers of long running TV mysteries with long running plot arcs ever since. You will remember that The Sopranos ended with a deliberately inscrutable and vague ending so as not to put a cork in it. The producers might make that same choice here.

3. There are lots of characters it could be. If they choose to name a Red John, there are lots of candidates left open. It could be anyone from Brett Partridge (seems a bit young and light, but who knows) to Ellis Mars (ditto, but he could be playing dumb), to Virgil Minelli (a bit too likeable, but not so likeable or core that he's out of bounds), to Brett Stiles (certainly capable of it on several levels and definitely twisted enough) and on. It's a fools game to think viewers can nail it with certainty this far out.

4. My gut - go with the paranoid choice. I like Robert Kirkland as Red John, although I recognize he's just one of many possibilities. He meets all the essential criteria, he's the right age, he's figured into the plot appropriately, and so on. Most importantly, to me, it fits into the zeitgeist of the age, which is paranoid suspicion of everyone in any kind of power. Who better to be a deranged serial killer than a Homeland Security operative charged with protecting us from evil enemies? Who could be better positioned to stifle investigations than someone who can reach out to all the black ops operations of the most powerful government in world history? Because of that zeitgeist, it can be done in a way that doesn't kill all the suspense - yes, Red John is unveiled, but we can be left wondering what even darker conspiracy is left in place that nurtured and protected such a monster.

I am not sure who RED JOHN is but I very sure that HE is NOT KRISTINA FRYE. WATCH the last episode in SEASON 2 - Red Sky In The Morning.

In the event where PJ was saved by Red John from the two insane students, you can listen to his voice. Though RJ may sound feminine, he definitely sounds like a MAN. Now when he mentioned "Roll Tide", which in the event was the one that Kristina Frye said to the waiter in the start of the show, it was actually because HE WAS LISTENING TO THEM WHILE THEY WERE DATING. Look closely at the scene and shots when PJ and KF were talking to the waiter, during the time before she mentioned "Roll Tide", you can see a man wearing a black suit on the table next to them. He has black straight hair. You would see that in the left side of the screen, near Jane. He was actually interested in ROLL TIDE because the waiter mentioned the phrase "CRIMSON Tide" where his uncle belonged to. CRIMSON, a shade of RED. You can check the episode, see for yourself. Kristina Frye is not RED JOHN.

God,people,it really wouldn't make any sense for Jane to .. catch himself.Think about it.And it so wouldn't be a nice finale. -_-