RJ is absolutely NOT one of the 7. I cannot imagine that anyone still believes this. Patrick Jane gave the list of 7 to Lorelei. She knew who RJ was so she went looking to kill him. When she was captured, and probably tortured, she gave RJ the list as Jane anticipated bc she wants RJ dead and thought this would give Jane a huge advantage. I believe it will almost certainly turn out that RJ uses the power of the tyger, tyger organization and his control over those under him to peg the entire Red John image on someone else like Bertram, only Jane will know that none of those men are really RJ. What we know: RJ is almost certainly between 39 and 50 years old. His first murder occurred in 1998 (almost 26 years ago now), so if he started at 14 (a true sociopath), he would be 39, and if he started at a more advanced age, say 21-23, he would be no more than 50. There is one complication. His partner Orville Tanner, assuming they are at least similar in age (Red John would almost certainly be the same age or older, as Orville claimed to just be the lookout), has a son Dumar who was in his late 20's to early 30's, a few seasons ago. He was born before Orville went to jail, so sometime in the late 80's or early 90's. This puts Orville, and probably RJ more towards the higher end of that spectrum, around 47-53. I think it is very safe to say RJ is no older than 55. This eliminates: Stiles, Smith, Patridge, and possibly Bertram and McCallisterHe at some point in the mid 90's to early 2000's had short straight hair. Rosalind describes him as such, which also gives us more background to his age. 15-20 years ago, Rosalind would have been very young, and it seems unlikely that even being blind she would be so comfortable with a man significantly older than her. Also, Lorelei (who is quite attractive) would seem unlikely to find someone in their 50's (6 years ago) so intriguing. I think this puts him squarely in the late 40's to early 50's category. It also firmly eliminates Bertram (bald), and completely eliminates Stiles and McCallister in age. He has great posture and is fit. Goodbye Smith. Partridge is dead. Kirkland is dead. Smith is out (too young, too fat), Stiles, Betram and McCallister are out. We are left with Haffner. He squeamish nature towards spiders, connection to the cbi and visualize, and sudden hiring as the security director of visualize seem to scream Red John. He is also the correct age. However, I find a few things stand out: He and Jane would NEVER be friends, and I find them to be quite opposite, not at all similar. He doesn't seem very sharp, and, if Lisbon is correct and he was 21 during the barn killings, seems a tad young. Also, I find it hard to believe he would be able to have someone like Bertram working FOR him as RJ, while Bertram was older and more accomplished in the CBI. So, that eliminates the 7. And leads to who it might be. My theory is that Van Pelt is 100% directly connected to RJ, either knowingly or unknowingly. Her religious belief (and the odd conversation between Jane's old carney adversary about Lisbon's cross), her constant antagonizing Jane about psychics being real, her red hair (everyone with red hair that is recurring has a direct link to RJ), being engaged to O'laughlin, being the one who has everyone bugged, etc. all lead me to believe she is somehow connected. And also Jane asserting that she has some terrible memory that she has never dealt with a tries to block out. My guess is there is a football -> roll tide -> Christina frye _> RJ connection to this story. But, I am certain that Rj is not one of the 7.
