This is a question, not a theory: Why is Mashburn not on the list? He is the perfect candidate to be RJ. No one else even compares. Also, we know he has some sort of phobia and it seems odd that Jane accused Mashburn of a mild dirt phobia when he does a cold read of him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pL336yZCB90

Anyway, just curious. I missed whatever thing it was that took him off Jane's list.

Just a thought...tell me what you all think.

Jane always says Red John thinks of himself as an artist.  We know his is also narcissistic.  Brett Partridge is at all of the Red John and copycat Red John killing sites.  Wouldn't it make sense for him to be there so he could "admire his work" and see other people's reactions?  Not only that but he would be around Jane all the time.  This way he can get a feel for how much he knows, and how close he is to discovering who he really is.

Let's just assume for the purpose of this argument that Partridge is Red John, and that he did fake his death.  It looks like Bertrum, Smith and McAllister are part of this conspiracy.  Also assuming that Red John is the leader of the group, it would have been simple for one of them to be in the house while Partridge appeared dead.  Faking his death could be Partridge's way of trying to make other people look suspicious, and take some of the heat off of himself.

Heller said Red John killed Brett Partridge.  Does this mean he literally killed him, or he killed the alias known as Brett Partridge?

They blew away the best character created ... has a "touch & go" with Lisbon and gets out of the picture for 3 seasons. Sent Jane a "nice gift" for his breakdown : Lorelei (nice mistress indeed). Asks for Lisbon's head as if saying "we're even dude, knew you wouldn't gimme her head and I didn't want hers" (Lorelei said it anyways) ... charismatic, billionaire, womanizer, good at building bombs, he was at a reformatory (Bret Stiles decided to help this ambitious lad like he so proudly announced did with the ecuatorian child) ... issues with his mother ... was on Jane's list ... but there's this thing that bothers me : why did Lisbon said there were 8 suspects on this season's first episode and Jane didn't even corrects her ... an spoiler says thay she's gonna search for the worst possible person for some help or whatever ... if that's true an ex-one night stand that suddenly reappears as another spoiler is saying would make it great ... Mashburn being Red John ... the reason Jane and Lisbon's relation straints and ends up pretty bad after the hunt is over ... to hell with Red John

Just want to throw something out there...as we know william blake plays a role in the storyline. Tyger, tyger is his poem and the great red dragon is his painting. I looked up the painting - there are 4 of them, and they were drawn to illustrate the book of revelations 12 and 13...I see a lot of possibility for revelations 13 to match up to the story line. A dragon and two beasts - could that be rj, visualize and tyger, tyger...or perhaps Ardiles, tt, and rj.... 7 heads, each blasphemous - 7 suspects. All who worshipped the firet beast should be marked (3 dots). A wound that appeared lethal, but was healed (partridge OR whoever survives the bomb blast)...seems to be more than coincidence to me

Red Herrings..
I have watched a lot of crime tv series and trust me, the most important persons are 99% portrayed and showed to the viewers in the first season. There is just no guarantee that the show is not going to be cancelled. Look at FlashForward, great show but they had to let the viewers to see the bad guy at least once. Boom sadly show got cancelled. At least we knew who did it.

Let's not get too much excited to the Red Herrings(uhum Ray Hafner and that little ghoul) in the show, just like there were a lot of red herrings in every episode of Scooby Doo.
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxj71jxkgy1qh1mvzo5_500.gif

Let's think logical..
There were two suspects of today's list in the first season, or I can rather say in the first two episodes.

Brett Partridge and Sheriff Thomas McAllister. One is probably dead killed by the other.
Brett Partridge even said TygerTyger to Teresa, probably because Sheriff Thomas McAllister said it to Brett before he got killed just like in the season 2 finale. And now we have made the connection to the three dots.

The one thing that really caught my eye were his SHOES. He has those classy shoes I saw in the season 2 final.
In episode 3 he even said to Patrick in the woods he likes to hunt 'faces' and he even called Patrick with his cell phone and started "Hey Patrick" with that soft old voice this time without a voice changer.
As they say in the game Phoenix Wright...

TAKE THAT

Sheriff Thomas McAllister is Red John.

I rest my case.


PS: a funny thing if you type Partridge in wikipedia you will see an explanation about a bird who avoids high places. lol