In Season 5, Ep. 15 Lorelei finds out Red John killed her sister. When she tells Jane she is going after here, she does two things.
1) She Kills her victim who knows Red John.
2) She doesn't kill Jane.
3) Brett Partridge is on the scene of the first murder in the episode, and he tries to make Jane believe a different theory than the one Jane already has. (Not to remind you that he is always at the fake Red John cases trying to make  Jane believe it IS Red John.)


So that means a couple things.
1) Red John isn't Jane.
2) Lorelei killed The Victim to cover up who Red John is, or She was just doing it out of anger. Yet, she knows it's more important for Jane to know who Red John is. She didn't care about Jane anymore, it was about her revenge. 

Stop thinking it's Jane. I believe it's Brett Partridge.

I think when you are trying to figure out who Red John is the best way to figure it out or at least get a direction on who it MAY be is go straight off what the creators and producers tell you about who Red John is instead of trying to just guess and match up who it may be. Remember this will go down as of the biggest reveals in the history of television. The Mentalist writers and producers use red herrings to throw you off of who is RJ all of the time so it can be assumed that nobody especialy any main character is RJ including Patridge, Stiles, Kirkland, Haffner and Mars. Now I can easily see Partridge being the guy that shot the two filmmakers and it would make sense because RJ uses people all of the time never EVER being put in the line of fire.

1. Bruno Heller the creator and the one person that knows who Red John is for sure said its not Patrick Jane so all 9/11 and Fight Club thinkers can stop the madness.

2. Ashley Gable one of the Mentalist producers tweeted "You've got to look at it like Waldo." The Mentalist is a HUGE SHOW and nothing is leaked if not for a reason. I think by saying this it allows the show to being to say we showed who Red John is and it easily could be the guy in the Red Sweater. He is under 6 ft and short black hair. In this video youtube.com/watch?v=590v4FCm6WU it shows him and it would also make sense as far as the Where is Waldo theory. I think it also matches up to Bruno Heller stating that we are all going to be disappointed when they reveal who is RJ. What would make more sense a new person that he can drop a backstory and flashback on or a current character that in a lot of different ways doesnt matchup. People that watch this show would hate it if it was a current character and it would never work in syndication which is where they make a ton of money. It just doesn't work if say Partridge or Kirkland would be RJ. Jane is over the top smart and he doesnt pick up that someone he sees at work with the last few years under his nose is RJ. Come on! Also you see people say that RJ may be CBI Ron and try to draw comparisons to cut iron but I dont buy it. Just because Ron shows up in different shows doesnt make him RJ. RJ has to be a guy with an ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF POWER. He is not working 9-5 everyday at the CBI. COME ON. I think by Ashley Gable saying Where is Waldo and introducing CBI Ron makes people think its him but it doesnt fit.

3. Bruno Heller also said that Red John is just like Professor James Moriarty. I know this has been talked about over and over but if you really think about it and have read about Moriarty it makes sense. Red John has used tons of people to do his bidding. He used Lorelei-to approach Jane, Rebecca-to infiltrate Bosco to find out what he knows about him and kill Bosco and his team, O'laughlin-to keep tabs and kill Hightower, the man and women at the womens center-to get him women to kill and cover it up, the woman who went to the hotel who killed herself and he has to have at least ONE MORE PERSON inside the CBI which could be Partridge who I think killed the two filmmakers. Think about it if it was Kirkland he would be able to get any updates on the case but its not him so he needed someone inside the team. All of this tells you that RJ doesnt need to put himself in danger instead using other people to do his work.

4. I think one of the most telling things is what producer Tom Szentgyorgyi said recently which when you really think about it opens up the reality that RJ is not one of the main characters. He said "This season has been about Jane digging into the notion that it's not
that Red John could be anyone; it's that Red John is one of a very specific set of people that Jane is uniquely qualified to investigate."

"The finale is going to pay that off in a way that will completely
change the hunt for Red John. We are going to know some very specific things about who he might be."

When you really think about this it tells you a few things. One RJ has to be a Mentalist just like PJ. What specific set of people would Jane be uniquely qualified to investigate. That set are mentalists. RJ was able to completely brainwash K Frye who is extemely smart and a supposed psychic. What will change the hunt? Obviously there will be something dramatic happen or a flashback on the last episode. This all points to someone unique not someone we have seen several times like Partridge or Kirkland. We also know in the last episode that it will feature a character called Sean Barlow who is an Irish psychic from Jane's past. This adds up because we all know that RJ is a mentalist. Something that might completely change the hunt is we find out that RJ is someone from Janes past either from the carnival or something else.

Lorelei went to the carnival with a bunch of tools to kill RJ and was killed there. That matches up with someone in PJ past. I will bet dollars to doughnuts that Janes knows him without a doubt.

When you put all of these things that Heller and the producers have said who is RJ I really think it eliminates every single person on the show so far. Heller and the producers put out this statements and tweets methodically. Its not like its a random thing and they do it for a reason. They are leaving bread crumbs for us to follow.

As far as other characters that people think that might be Red John when you really think about it and know the show its easy to count them out. We all know Red John is under 6 ft, short hair and since he was at the Ellison Farm in 1988 we know he has to be at least 45 which eliminates a lot of characters.

Elias Mars I have no idea why people think its this joker. He was in one episode and I sincerely dont think some guy in a field with night vision goggles is RJ. Give me a break.

Haffner Yea he is begging Lisbon to work with him and has ties to Visualize but still no dice.

Kirland I think the reason him and Bertram said we cant trust anyone is because Homeland is there to investigate someone who they may think is RJ. I am sure they may think it is Jane. You hear about serial killers who involves themselves in the investigation. They also could be investigating Partridge. I think that is why Kirkland is showing up but no other reason that makes more sense as far as why he wont let Jane close to the guy that just got shot and is in intensive care.

Bertram NO FREAKING WAY People would revolt.

Minelli NO FREAKING WAY People would revolt. Both of these guys ran the CBI and either RJ or one of RJ associates called Minelli to keep tabs on the RJ investigation what is RJ doing calling himself. COME ON.

Stiles The one main thing about Stiles is he gave Jane the destination about Frye to Jane. That tells you 2 things. He knows RJ but is probably afraid of him and wont say and why would Jane work with Stiles knowing he may be RJ. Stiles helped Jane get Lorelei out of prison. It all just makes no sense.

Mashburn I thought it may be him because of his power and connection to Lisbon but it seems like they would know his history.

Partridge I know people talk about Brace of Partridge and all of that but he doesnt have the power and is not old enough. He is not in his 40's now I do think 100% he is the one who killed the 2 filmmakers. The voices are identical and is RJ associate but thats it.

After all of this it makes much more sense that RJ is still an unknown character versus someone we have already seen especially when you factor in everything Heller and the producers have said.

  S4E9 RED SHIRT  who's that in the background???
 I think I've come full circle.
Well, season five may limit the suspect list.
But season 5 is also Red Herring after Red Herring.
Heller has said, "He knows where it's going..." concerning the RJ storyline. I believe too many people on the net guessed who RJ is and that's why season 5 has become a damn parade of Red Herrings, and "possible" suspects. Ridiculously obvious.
      
    I'm now back to believing "the red sweater guy or red shirt guy is in fact Red John. I won't go through all reasons i believe this.
(so many others already have.)  But read on. I believe there's something most haven't noticed or picked up on below....
      Oh and let's remember before the season 3 finale all the promos said PJ would come face to face with RJ. Perhaps he did and didn't know it...
     Red John's accomplice/tool, Lorelei Martins told Patrick Jane he'd met Red John. This could have happened off screen(most likely did). We know this because of the names seen in PJ's little book O' suspects.
      Writers have compared Red John to Waldo, a famous character for children who appears in the background. "You've got to look at it like Waldo." as Ashley Gable once tweeted in the official Mentalist Writer twitter account.

      He is also compared to Professor James Moriarty (a.k.a "Napoleon of Crimes"), the antagonist of Sherlock Holmes, whose stories are known for using a web of followers to commit crimes. Heller describes Red John as Jane's White Whale, Moby Dick of Melville's book, the obsession that destroys Captain Ahab.

      I believe Patrick will die chasing down his "white whale" Red John. After all, the theme that revenge does't bring peace is clearly discussed in many episodes. Just as Ahab died. Jane must die. (There will be no Jisbon wedding. lol) My guess is Jane will die killing RJ/saving Lisbon. Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty both fell to their deaths near a waterfall. (Holmes character later brought back as the writer needed money, was broke...so more novels.)
    
       Now about the Waldo idea....the Red Sweater Guy is in the background of a sceen where Jane and Lisbon are having ice cream.
Here's the link. 35 secs into the clip. Oh and the name of the episode
is RED SHIRT. youtube.com/watch?v=hAs5hLQftwI
And for anyone who hasn't heard of the Red Shirt/Sweater Guy theory
I refer you to this short video. youtube.com/watch?v=590v4FCm6WU   Some have also said Red Sweater guy is a member of the jury during Jane's trial. I've yet to look into that.
              Anyway,  i'm back to the RSG theory...   Holes can be punched in every other theory. And the Waldo tweet is real insight. Not character perspective...