Hello friends.
I just rewatched s5e13 The red barn, which I think is one the most important episodes on the show so far. In this episode we find out that Red John is/was a Visualize member and in 1988 he was in the Ellison farm. The two dead people in the basement are probably his first kills. He also painted the smily face on the wall.
Now this is very important because in the end of the episode Patrick tells Lisbon that he suspect around 408 people but the whole Visualize and farm thing will exclude "a bunch more". I think this is the best lead we got and the closest we can get the R.J for now and surely Jane knows this. So I think everyone on that list must have something to do with Stiles and his cult.
The only guy we know that is a Visualize member and most likely was in the very same Ellison farm in '88 is Haffner.
Now I really dislike the idea of him being our lovely Red John but we gotta consider everyone on that list, and the Red Barn episode is a very good lead.

Haffner himself looks really unsure around Jane. The fist episode that he plays - s4.ep2 he asks Cho who's smarter - he or Jane. Why would he ask this? We see in the season finale R.J tells Patrick via the CD - You think you are clever? I'll show you clever. Obviously theres something going on with those two. : )
Now my favorite clue about Haffner is his talk to with Lisbon. He says that he was troubled kid back in the days and Visualize help him. So we know he was bad teenager around 17. At 21 he was in the Ellison farm. This brings the question how come theres so many trophies in his office? When did he graduated high school and college? How come he achieved so much if at 21-22 he was working for Stiles and had no promising future if any future at all. There must be something that he did to earn Stiles or someone else trust, to build connections and eventually make it to CBI.
Another think for Haffner, bit of a long shot tho - but I think I noticed a football/sport award from college in his office. Do you remember when Jane was kidnapped by those kids and R.J saved him? At the end he said "Roll Tide" - a reference to Alabama crimson tide sport team.

After all I like the idea of Partridge being R.J the most. We all know about the Blakes painting "brace of partridge" etc. I love the idea of Brett Stiles being possibly father, uncle etc of R.J and thats why he helping him. But theres a reason for everyone being on that list and I think in next season they will make the Red John - Visualize connection more clear for us. But for me theres no doubt that Stiles knows who RJ is but he won't tell either because the cares and protect R.J or because hes afraid of him. Hes afraid of Visualize, that is a religions organization, being linked with the most brutal and famous serial killer in CA.
Sorry for my English, not my 1st language. And please feel free to add something.

Let's look at the case with the tactic of DUALITY.

* Did Rosalind lie about RJ's definition?
1- Yes: In this case, the list of 7 can be legit and we should all look for RJ within the list.
2- No: In this case, the list of 7 is bullshit. How:
    a-) Lorelei is not dead and She and Patrick created the video as the main element of their master plan. 
          Question: If this is the case, why didn't Lorelei just simply told Jane who RJ was?
          Answer: She doesn't know who RJ is. She pretended to know RJ but in fact, she is/was in communication with one of his high-rank officers only. And waking up that officer would result with her true death, so they couldn't just strike him to find out who Rj really is. Dead end.
          Question-2: Lorelei's death was publicly announced. And the killer is known as RJ. Knowing that he didn't kill her, wouldn't a guy like RJ who has great resources seek and destroy her for good until now?  
          Answer-2: If Lorelei is still alive, she must be hiding in some place which is out of reach of anyone with any kind of resources. Only Jane knows it. This might be a point to start the new hunt by using her as a bait.
    b-) Lorelei is as dead as Dinosaurs and the video was recorded by RJ indeed. 
          Question: How the hell did RJ know all that stuff (considering that Kirkland had broken into Jane's loft after the chic gets killed) in the first place?
          Answer-1: RJ was the person who planted those clues to be able to come up with such a list in the first place. Very much possible.
          Answer-2: He didn't guess shit. Jane just pretended that his list and RJ's list are the same. After all, there wasn't a list in Jane's hand. There were just photos and he watched the video a few times before anyone else did and it was easy to collect all those pics together as he was already collecting data about every person of interest during his investigation / brainstorming process. Dead end. Start over.

* Did Lorelei lie about the hand-shake phenomenon?

1- Yes: In that case, RJ's list and Jane's list are completely like black and white. And this can be possible because even though some people say that she said those words very instantly during a hot conversation but we should also consider the fact that she had Patrick totally conned until she reveals the truth that she was one of RJ's accomplices. So the hand-shake thing can also be a well-worked act. Dead end. Start over.

2- No: In that case, Red John just followed a similar method of deduction as Jane did, and came up with the same list. Here's another clue actually. Red John uses the phrase "Lucky Break" when defining the Jane's narrowed list. He just doesn't accept the reality that Jane actually generated the list by working on all the clues and connections but simply luck. That might be a result of RJ's personal belief that he is smarter than Jane and doesn't want to admit the truth that Jane can also go as far as he can go when it comes to intelligence. Therefore, he insulted Jane with the idea that even though Jane could somehow reach those names after months of struggle, RJ in return, could simply get the same result very easily just by thinking like PJ. Because there's nothing else left to insult here.

And this aggression makes me think that RJ has a great claim in the field of mentalism in a way that he can even lose control against any situation where someone else has a possibility of beating him or getting even close to him. This is why it makes me think that this guy can very well be someone from Jane's past (from carnival days). And what I believe is that there will be a two-stage tracking for RJ. At first, they will precisely determine who in that list is RJ. And once they reach him (by taking under arrest or killing directly), then they will realize that he is the operational part of RJ (doing the physical acts like killing and/or planting false/true clues in places, maybe even supervising all the RJ accomplices). Later on, by coincidence or clever thinking they will realize that there is a master brain behind all that (this doesn't mean that the puppet RJ is idiot). And the hunt will end with finding out the truth behind RJ's existence and acts, and the killing of him (no arrest will take place).

My candidates for the muscle & brain RJs are:

Muscle: Brett Partridge (he must be honored of being Red John once because there's a serious crowd crediting him in that direction)
Brain: Alex Jane (for the ones who love mystery rather than obvious picks) 

This way: Heller will never have to be responding to questions "But you said RJ was in the list of 7 in your interview?". That's right. And it was BP and he was on the list. And also, The Mentalist will be a unique masterpiece melting 2 serial killers in one pot as fully coordinating and equally active within the crime. Of course, he might pick another way to be unique but so far I could only come up with this scenario depending on what the show makes me feel. for the ones who are curious why I connected these 2 characters to each other, you may see my previous theory # 2934.

Hope you like it. And by the way, please contribute to develop it further. Don't get mad at me. Other plain scenarios would just be boring... :))))

 

I think Brett Partridge is Rj. It has been said over and over again in the show that a psycopathic killer likes to be involved in a murder investigation he himself committed (ex: SJK). In every RJ killing BP has been there or thereabouts and he likes to explain to PJ his theories (hence the involvement). I think he likes to taunt PJ by misleading him to see if PJ can see through his tricks.

After I've shown you my theories about Partridge and Haffner, I want to show also my theory about GALE BERTRAM.
I have to admit it: maybe I’ve got rid of Bertram too much quickly in my previous thoughts. But now, Bertram strongly comes back among the main suspects, one of the two who could be Red John more likely.
Partly revaluating my old analysis, let’s see the evidences about him.

He appears for the first time in the episode 3x01 and he immediately opens defining Patrick “Boy Wonder”, just as he was known during his shows in his youth.
Patrick recognizes Bertram’s quotation from Mao Tse-tung: nothing so original telling the truth, even if it denotes a certain culture of the character. We’re going to see a more significant example.
Just see another curious detail before do that: during that same episode Patrick reveals to Lisbon his impression about Bertram. Patrick says “I got a weird vibe the first moment I met him."

He also appears in other episodes, but the one in which he surely arises a lot of suspicions is the 3x16. Approximately at the end of the episode Bertram quotes two verses from a poem by William Blake.
The poem is “"A cradle song” and it is part of the collection “Songs of Innocence”. This collection is published along with the collection “Songs of Experience” which represents its antithesis. In this second collection there is the poem “The tyger”, quoted by Red John.
Partridge's literary references are much more subtle than Bertram's, which looks like a gaudy clue. But in that exact moment Bertram's quote was a tool to misguide us about the mole who had killed Todd Johnson: authors wanted us to believe it's Bertram because of that poem and when the trap at the hotel was carried out, that suspect seemed to be confirmed.
Then, suddenly, the real mole came out: O’laughlin.
So, that’s the question: was the poem only a red herring or it also was a clear clue to point at Bertram as Red John? Who knows!
Moreover we actually know that it’s been Bertram who had peached to JJ LaRoche the love story between Hightower and one of the cops killed by Todd Johnson. And since Todd was working for Red John and since he told that there was a reason for what he did, we might think that it’s been Bertram who had indicated him which cops had to be killed in order to have some elements to catch Hightower.
If that's true, then the full event regarding Todd Johnson and the hunt for the mole are part of Red John’s plan: He knew that Patrick would have look for a “mole”; he knew he would have been among the suspects etc…
Someway, his plan provided for both the trap for Hightower and Timothy Carter's playing his role.
I’ve always have doubt about the reason why Red John wanted Hightower’s death, it could be a reason that still has to be explained.

Let’s analyze now the last two episodes of the 3th season, “Strawberries and cream”.
At the beginning of part 1 we get to know that it’s Bertram who requested the presence of the CBI on the crime scene. Soon after Bertram tries to pass off the bomb stuff as an isolated accident, attempting to deflate the importance of the fact, to preserve image of the nation (or so it seems to be). But since the issue will prove to be linked to Red John, it raises some doubts.
Even more when we watch the end of the episode: Bertram asks Lisbon explanations about the way they’ve arrived to the guilty. It’s possible to perceive a certain shade of annoyance, cause he says “How the hell did Jane know that it was the gas station attendant?”
Then he asks what was so important about the stolen client list, and just after understanding they didn't know, he tries to put an end on it, saying that with the culprit dead, the case is as good as closed. If Bertram was involved, this would explain why he have requested CBI’s presence on the crime scene: they had to take the list and then one of them would have fallen into the bomber’s trap, in order to recover the list from the CBI evidence storage. Because it did not have to look like an inside job of a mole once again.

We can now pass to the part 2, an episode which will remain among the most memorable of the whole series.
We find out that Bertram is in the list of the five suspects to be the mole and Lisbon tells him one of the fake locations of Hightower: in this scene we can see Bertram sipping some tea and holding in his hand the same newspaper that Timothy Carter held in his hand the following day.
Later Bertram is effectually suspected to be the real mole and Patrick throw the bait: he and Bertram have to meet Hightower.
From that moment will be a cycle of well-known events perfectly explicable without the implication of Bertram. But let’s try to reconsider everything supposing Bertram is Red John and that he has organized everything. Let’s see how could everything be explained: since O’laughlin was his mole, maybe Bertram has immediately understood it was a trap, cause they’ve received two different addresses. So the rope in the killer's bag could be a countermeasure to be one step ahead. Meanwhile O’laughlin has discovered the real Hightower’s hiding place and Van Pelt has brought him with her in order to having an help in the surveillance. We can’t see the moment when Patrick has told Bertram the meeting place, but it must had occurred. otherwise how could Bertram (suspected to be the mole) have informed Red John? Once known the place, he’s been able to organized his plane against Patrick. Here everything become more complex cause, if Bertram was really Red John, then he would have planned O’laughlin’s sacrifice, without his consciousness.
Only through O’laughlin’s death, it would have developed the series of actions which has brought Patrick face to face with Timothy Carter. If so, then it could explain why just when his trap to catch Hightower was working, Bertram has instilled in Patrick the clue about the rope, relying on Patrick’s deductive skills. Above all, the authors said it has been the most important scene of the series, and maybe it will be until the end. Since Bertram is the only one, among the seven suspects, to have attended on that scene, I wonder if that affirmance by the authors was an ulterior hint on him.
Or maybe they were bluffing, because in that moment the 4th season had still to broadcast.
If this isn’t a bluff, we have to consider that Bertram has left Patrick just when Carter has arrived, and meanwhile he could have spoken to the guard, telling him to take Carter's gun and phone away from the crime scene.

Bertram appears, during the 4th season, in the first two episodes.
In the first one he wants Patrick to be imprisoned; he provides many correct reason from his point of view; but if Bertram was Red John, his bitterness would be perfectly understandable.
We discover that one of the guards has taken Carter's gun and phone to catch Patrick; The disappearance of the phone also makes it impossible to ceck the contact list to find the number of the real Red John.
The second episode immediately begins with Patrick e Bertram who is expressly angry for what was happened and he assigns Patrick to Ray Haffner; Patrick points out that it's a little perverse that Bertram was rehiring him and he was firing Lisbon, but Bertram gives him a quick answer.
Later Haffner tells Cho that Red John thing really pissed Bertram off.
Next, our good old LaRoche, just before discovering Sally Carter’s “suicide”, deplores the fact that Bertram has treated Lisbon poorly and also the fact that Bertram never solicits his opinion on such matters.
At the end of the episode Bertram removes Haffner from his assignment cause he has not been able to control Patrick: we can notice Bertram has perfectly understood each detail of Patrick’s trap, including the attempt to make him feel foolish in revenge for Lisbon’s firing.
At the end he accepts to reemploy Lisbon in order to keep Patrick in the CBI. That’s because he solves the cases, or at least so he says.
Anyway Patrick has already caused many troubles but he firmly remains in his job place.

New season and new trouble: CBI’s agents and FBI’s agents have been fighting at a crime scene.
Bertram is really angry one more time, and he warns Jane he is down to his very last chance to remain in the CBI.
Then Bertram says he will do his best to keep Lorelei Martins under the CBI custody… but, practically, what happens?
First Lorelei is taken by the FBI, then Patrick manages in carrying Judge Manchester on his side to recover Lorelei’s custody, but meanwhile someone has blackmailed the guard who was transferring Lorelei to relocate her to another prison, obviously far from Jane.
In the third episode of the 5th season we discover that Bertram uses to play poker with a circle of bigwigs that includes also the FBI’s director Charles Bailey and the FBI agent Gabe Mancini. Two men in the FBI among whom there could be the famous Red John’s "friend".
We also have to keep an eye on Alexa Schultz even if she doesn’t look to be in good relationships with Bertram reposing on their dialogue in the episode 5x01: she doesn’t look as a "friend" who’s speaking to her master. So either Alexa is not a Red John’s accomplice or she is, but in this case Bertram couldn't be Red John.
But let’s come back to the poker. In the episode 5x14 Gale seems to be stranded cause he hasn’t success in bluffing against Judge Manchester. So Patrick gives him bluff lessons that will be paying. It really seems Bertram needed that help. But if he was Red John, that would be an act.
There wouldn’t be a good reason to perform this farce, unless he wants to appear less smart than he really is. I can’t image Red John who needs poker lessons. Maybe Bertram just wanted to test the relationship between the members of the team: actually he has immediately understood that Patrick’s help has arrived just to make him agree to sponsor Van Pelt’s program.

Lastly, let’s pass to the episode 5x16, the one in which Lorelei was killed: Bertram cooperates with Kirkland conferring him the investigations on Lorelei Martins.
They seems to be quite accomplice because, just after speaking with Lisbon, Kirkland asks Bertram if they can trust her. Bertram answers “can we trust anyone?”
If Kirkland was someone who really wants to catch Red John, then Bertram could have a dig at him, using those words. Either that words were referred to Lorelei who betrays him by the end of the episode, so he has no option but killing her.
But Bertram really could be honest and he could be really well intentioned to catch John with the help of Kirkland.

Last note: Lennon was a good fisherman, good enough to appear on the cover of a specific magazine. Bertram is a fisherman too, and we can deduce this by the trophy he has in his office.
There is also another trophy, a manikin with the left arm outstretched in the air, but I can’t figure out what it is.
I think that’s all we can gather about Bertram.
As I’ve said, he returns among the main suspects to be Red John; we’ll see how it will turn out.

What is absolutely clear is that Jane does not believe in Rosalind s description of Roy Tagliaferro - Red John  cause most of the seven suspects do not fit that description. So Jane thinks Rosalind is lying. She says she knows nothing about Red John, pretending to be an innocent girl... 
definitely accomplice

This isn't a theory ... I would just like to say that i'm having a couple of problems buying the last episode ...
First ... The list ...
Well ... How could RJ get precisely the same list as Jane???
And how come, in jane's list, there's no one from his carnies days or from his psychic days??
He said that the list had the only 7 people that could have been in every crime places ... Really ???
Nobody from his preview life (before CBI) could have been in every crime scene????
But ... continuing ... In the Red Barn episode, we heard, and so did jane, from a priest that a "kid" was painting the smiling face .... Well that was in 1988 ... So the person would have to be 30 (TOPS) in those days ... Well ... Jane knows this ... but RJ didn't know this ... So i can understand why stiles is in RJ's list ... What i can't understand is why is he in Jane's list ... He is too old !!!!!
And ... Last but not least ... How could ANYONE know that Lily Barlow was a happy memory for jane if he didn't tell anyone?????
I guess he could have told in the carnies days or in the asylum but ... Wouldn't he remember telling??
I mean, really people, think a little bit?? Does anyone know who is and who is not in your memories??
Nobody can know that if we don't tell them ... Not our parents, our siblings or our best friends ...
Because, we all have had several happy moments in the past ... And sometimes we don't even know why we remember one more than another ... So how could someone else do it ???

Oh ... And btw ... Let me tell you what i think about the list...
Bret Stiles - To damn old, not a chance he could be RJ ... And ... Why would he help Jane with the escape of Lorelai???
Would he really risk her telling jane he was RJ ???Gale Bertram - The most unrealistic choice of all ... Really?! He is a federal agency Director ... His whereabouts are always known ...
I mean ... Every federal agency director has a team of full-time bodyguards and is electronically tracked ... So for him to be RJ he wouldn't have to be great ... He would have to be freaking Superman !!Robert Kirkland - The proof that there was never a RJ and they put a guy into the show just to be RJ ... A guy that appeared from nowhere and suddenly has 10 or 12 proof against him in a couple of episodes.Ray Haffner - Precisely the same thing as kirkland ...Reede Smith - my answer to this, and all you super fans will understand, is ... WHO ????? His name had to be one just to make an even 7 name list (7 names, 7 letters in red john)Sheriff McAllister - He is a nobody and he is a bit too old to be RJ ...Brett Partridge - The guy everybody suspected, at least for a moment ... The guy that doesn't make sense because he's too obvious ...I really would prefer if RJ would've been Mashburn, Winter or Royston Daniels ... But ... in this list, if RJ is anyone but Partridge the ending won't be disappointing, it will be stupid !!

Oh ... i remembered another thing ... So ... Jane was head to head with RJ in that tyger tyger stuff and didn't notice that Reede smith couldn't possibly be that man ... i mean ... the whole body is completely different ...
Reede smith is a rounder version of a RJ ... =P)

Assuming that one of the seven is really rj, then it has to be Brett Partridge. Apart from the fact that he was introduced right from the first episode, he is also the only name (out of the 7) that appers on the page of pj's initial agenta of suspects as shown very briefly at the finale of s5ep9. In fact the name is less visible due to the shade of pj's finger, but if you freeze the picture it is very clear.