Sheriff Thomas McAllister is Red John.

1)If we watch the last episode of second season we can see Red John´s body language. Its exactly the same as McAllister, slow movements. slow walking, Even the steps´s sounds are the same.

2)In Adittion, in that scene Red John Saves Patrick Jane´s life. (McAllister will do it in season 6 shotting the bad guys, thats not a coincidence)

3) He has all physical characteritics that Rosalind, Sophie and the
blond child told us. (Heigh, middle age, strong hands,well spoken, good
posture) Im sure you will ask me about his hair. Well i will tell you
that  6 years ago he had right hair.  And what about his voice? Thats
simple. its obvius he is using a modulator voice. Only 3 people know Red
John´s voice (Patrick, Sophie, and Rosalind) Patrick saw Red John using
a mask so he could easily hide the modulator behind his mask. The blond
girl saw Red John while he was using a baseball hat. He did hide it in
there. And Rosalind is blind, he coundt see the aparattus.

4)He is Mar"  writed on the bathroom. Could means "He is McAllister. Remember it was in Mexico. The prostitute did write it. (her body is nearest to the wall) In spanish Mc Allister sounds like mAcalister.
Also
in that episode we can hear Red John laught. It sounds really diferent
of his voice. Surely he wasnt using a modulator voice that time. His
laugh did sound like an old guy laugh, similar to McAllister.

5)Red John show us he is good shooting. He did it with one hand. Same as McAllister. He is a cop. He knows how to do it.

 6) He has the same way to sitting down and the same boots as Red John.

7) Why RJ chases Patrick? It should be a reason. He doesnt
chase every
familiar of his victims. Its not just for the TV Show. He hates Patrick
because he won the Rock paper, scissors game. He has a narcicist
personality just like Rosalind told us. he hates loosing. Also thats why
in that episode he tryed to ruin Patrick janes´s plan to catch the
killer.  He did try to catch Van Pelt. In fact he told her "im sure you
are intoxicated" Also it was a sexual tension in that scene. Red John is
a raper. (he did rape lorelei ´s sister)

8)He is a good whistler and he waits patiently every time. just like Sophie told us.

9)He likes giving pats on the shoulder. Just like RJ did it with Jane at the end of season 2.

 10) He appears in the beginning of the series.

11)Red John is an artist.  if we watch the last episode Mc Allister seems really innocent when he said "its not what you think". RJ loves acting. he is playing Jane.

12) In The Mentalist the killer is always the most unexpected person. McAllister is one of the most unexpected ones.

13)McAllister is an irish surname. Remember Jane´s family did come to USA from Ireland. I think this could be connected.

14) Probably the most interesting quote on the serie Patrick Jane told us is : "If we look things like the are really are , and not what we want to be. if would be all more simple for humanity (something like that) Everbody want Bret Partridge as Red John, or Haffner. or Bertram. but not so much people wants Thomas McAllister despite all the evidences.

Sorry for my english, Greetings from Uruguay.

Hey gang!  This is not a theory.  I was just hoping we could pull our collective insights to answer a question I have.

In episode 2 of this season, while Patrick and Lisbon are talking in the hospital, a doctor walks by. She knocks and then says the following:

Doctor: "Hello? Uh... Mrs. Lee?  Carmen Lee?"
Lisbon: "Sorry.  Wrong room I guess..."
Doctor: "Sorry."  (The doctor exits).

That scene always bugged me.  I can't shake the feeling that it was a clue of some kind and that it's going to be relevant later on.  Sure it's realistic that a doctor might have the wrong room, but as a writing stand point, why include that banal moment?  There must be more to it.  With the Mentalist, there always is.

Please comment below if you have a thought about this scene.  I really have no idea what it's importance might be, I just have a hunch it will be somehow!

Okay, we've all filed through the evidence hundreds of times and all come up with some very good theories based on the facts.  For me, the following is my evidence:

1.)  He Is Mar = He Is Marked:  The tattoo is legit.
2.)  Hunter Ethos:  We know he'll hunt "anything with a face"
3.)  Handshake Theory:  I theorize the handshake had to be on screen.  Their "shaking" of hands was by playing rock, paper, scissors.
4.)  Physical Profile:  6 years ago, he had short-straight hair.  He's under 6 ft, rough strong hands,   not muscular but not soft.  Probably smells like the woods "pine and earth", middle-aged, in good health.  Good posture, self-possessed.  Has a phobia: Orinithophobia, fear of birds.
5.)  Well-placed job:  He is less-confined by his work, spends many hours alone away from the public eye.  His car and profession could easily trick his victims into trusting him.
6.)  Friendliest:  Of all the suspects, he's the only who gets along with Jane.  Also only calls him "Patrick".

I feel those are strong arguments, but the strongest I have is simply the chemistry between McAllister and Jane.  It is by far one of the most intriguing dynamics of the group.  Jane went to Napa to get to know him better.  I have a feeling, McAllister barely made the list.  Patrick probably thought he was possible but unlikely.  However, when he went to meet him, I believe Jane saw a darkness in him, a "blood lust".  He took a little too much pleasure in shooting Jane's kidnapper.  "Now he's talking directly to Jesus".  Plus he has an intelligence, stealthiness and charm that truly fit RJ.  

When the Sheriff showed his tattoo, it seemed like Jane was expecting it to be him.  All the pieces fit.  He thought he had his man, but low and behold, Bertram and Smith had the same tattoo.  Next episode, he'll hunt down Bertram and Smith, but they will not be RJ.  The Sheriff will have faked his death and still be at large.

OK sorry for my long post but i would appreciate if you could take some time to read it, also if you like it hitting plausible would be so nice! :)This is what I'm gonna do in this theory, I'm going to eliminate all 6 suspects and then I'm gonna stick with the one that cannot be eliminated who is probably Red John.
Bret Stiles.Ok maybe one of the easiest to eliminate, I know some people like him as Red John but i don't think that's plausible. From episode 5x13 "The Red Barn" we know that Red John is born approximately between 1960-1972 which of course makes Bret Stiles too  old to be Red John. Additionally Sophie Miller said that Red John has good health but we learn in 6x06 that Bret Stiles has cancer,
Redee Smith.Redee Smith's actor is born in 1976 which makes him about 4 years younger than he should be and he is also a little bit chumby. We have seen ourselves that Red John has a thinner profile and from a spoiler picture Redee propably gonna get executed by the tiger tiger organization in the next episodes. So I dont think Redee is Red John.
Robert Kirkland.Ok many people like him, I like him too but he cant possibly be Red John... neither him nor his twin brother. First of all Lorellai Martins couldn't possibly know that Jane shook hands with him. Jane and Kirkland meet and shake hands for the first time in the end of episode 5x07 and at the beginning of the 5x08 Jane takes Lorellai out of the jail and she has no communication with Red John untill he tells Patrick that he has met with him. So first of all Lorellai could't possibly know that Patrick and Kirkland have met. Secondly Lorellai dies at episode 5x16 and Red John has already recorded the video with Patrick's list (and please dont tell me she is not dead... Patrick checked her himself) BUT Kirkland steals Jane's list in episode 5x19... uh? Why would he do that if you was Red John and already knows the names? He did it for himself because he wants Red John for him as we also discover and my theory gets verified at episode 6x04 where we learn that Kirkland is after Red John indeed. Now his brother being Red John? I don;t think so... Michael found cure at Red John's hand... he found his savior. I'm sure that one of the 2 Kirklands will appear again but I can't be sure if it will be Michael or Bob, we can't be sure which of these 2 got shot dead at the end of the end of the episode of 6x04. So Robert Kirkland is not Red John.
Gale Bertram.Here is the thing with Bertram. First of all he doesn't fit Rosaldin's Description, but if you think that's way too thin to eliminate him then there is more. Gale Bertram is a public figure, he goes on the TV all the time and his name is well known to the public.  We know that Red John met Sophie Miller personally, he had a reason to do it, and he met her with the name Jay Roth. Now imagine Gale Bertram going to Sophie Miller's name and telling her that his name is "Jay Roth." weird isn't it? Sophie may have seen in the TV "Gale Bertram director of the CBI" it's really wierd and i dont believe that someone marked but his name could possibly act undercover changing his name all the time as Red John does. I think that;s a pretty big clue that can allow me to eliminate him as Red John.
Brett Partridge. (Oh yeah! :P)Bruno Heller said that it was very important for Partridge to die at 6x01. Enigmatic right? My opinion is that Bruno really check mated us by that move. Partridge's death was not clear and we are not sure if he is dead or not. But I believe that his death was not clear enough so none can be possibly sure that if Partridge is dead or not.  Every theory about Partridge being Red John has a big question "And what if Partridge is really dead?" and every Red John theory about anyone else has another big question "What if Partridge is not really dead?". We have lost the game. None can be 100% sure about Red John's ID. That's why i think that Partridge's death was not clear and not because he is not actually dead. I believe Partridge is truly out of the game. But who can now be sure? None.
So we have 2 suspects left: Raymond Haffner and Sheriff Thomas McAlister.Let me explain how we can eliminate the last suspect.Red John had to do something to get one step ahead, he had to do something so he can know Patrick's next move again, so what did he do? He made one on purpose sloppy move to bug CBI by paying an undercover agent to do his job and then he tried to kill her. BUT he left her half-dead and allowed her to see his tattoo on purpose so she can tell Jane about that, Now he is one step. Now he knows that Jane will gather all 5 remaining suspects and he will try to kill him by planting a bomb. But his plan goes wrong this time and Jane doesn't dies but only gets hurt. That's the reason I believe the actual Red John has the 3 dots tattoo, he decided to give Jane a lead, not something really important that would really give away his ID but something that would take him closer by eliminating some suspects and would allow him to kill Jane. But luckily Jane is fine :D
So guess what... only one of our 2 remaining suspects has the 3 dots...
Sheriff Thomas McAlister is Red John!!!
Thanks for taking the time to read my post i hope you enjoyed and as everyone else none can be 100% sure what happened to Bret Partridge but I gave you my explanation on that and that's the reason i think he is dead which leaves McAlister to be Red John!
PS: Sorry for my bad English :)

I just noticed something re-watching S1E2 that might be related to McAllister. This is the first episode that we see McAllister. I haven't seen this being brought up by anyone else before, so I thought I'd post it here.

When Jane is talking to the landlord who owns the motel. She told Jane that there are "special discounts for federal and state employees". I don't see why BH would have added this line for no reason. There's a chance that McAllister was paying for the room (or maybe even the other officer who Jane seemed to be eyeing very closely). I know it's wild guess, but McAllister was in all the right places that episode, and I find it hard to believe that it was all a coincidence. I'm not saying this links McAllister to being Red John, but I think it's a strange coincident.

Let me start by saying, that i really hoped that someone apart from the list of 7 is red john. i hoped since the first time he appeared, that it is going to be him. he would fit the role perfectly. not only he would fit the descriptions of his blind ex girl, but also he is smart, good looking and charming enough to seduce anyone he wants.

i am talking about walter mashburn! 

the way acts in front of jane, theresa and the other cbi agents, the way he talks, the way he makes macabre jokes about being a possible suspect and so on. 

something that is still on my mind, is when jane asks him if he would do anything for a thrill, and he relies that he would. and jokes around that maybe he even can pull of a murder and not being caught.

he is rich, so he has money, and money means power. power which enables him to pull of anything he likes. and if you have money and power, you have anything you like. so it might get a bit boring, so why not being red john just out of fun???

also what makes him my favorite, is that he had a sexual thing going on with lisbon. maybe his type is more kind of a red head, but lisbon is the capital of portugal, and red is a dominant color in portugals flag (i know this seems too far away). but since i like him to be it, i come up with some unrealistic things. but since he has a secret crush for her, he does not kill her as he killed patridge. 

the sexual tension also brings haffner in play i know, but did you see the youtube video of that reporter who watched the next episode already? he says 2 important things: someone returns we thought is long gone (mashburn is not dead, but maybe long gone just means long gone out of sight of the plot). and second, he says lisbon trust someone, and makes a mistake, since she should not trust him. well since he is not on the list, and lisbon trusts the list, and since the got private, maybe out of desperation she trusts him and that might be a mistake since he is red john.

here is the video again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwjaSWWSD60

but i really trust heller as he said, that we can trust the list. and in my opinion 4 out of 7 would be great as red john. reede smith is too young and fat, also the actor is born in 76 or so, bertram is too tall and his voice is totally of. stiles is way to old and has his role in being strongly related to red john, maybe his father or mentor, also we should not rule out a relationship with jane and van pelt. so i think he has his part in the show, so he will not be red john. 

patridge was great. the thing pointing to him is that he dies first, so attention is off of him and his voice. but i think he is dead for sure. we don´t see the corpse, but i think that jane has definately checked out his dead body since he was on the list. also he seems to be to young in the series, looks like a mid 30 year old man, even though the age of the actor would fit. also the actor said, that he is done and out of the show for real. also jane always beats him in any debate, i don´t think red john would let that happen.
haffner is a cool guy, but to be honest, there is nothing pointing at him in my opinion, just his thing with lisbon and visualize. but i think that red john did not risk working too close to jane at any point. also jane gets him and his team often on the wrong foot when he was in cbi. as you can see from red johns reaction as he did this video with lorelei (either i catch you or you catch me), he seems to be easily upset about being defeated by jane and can not control his cool for such a long time span.

so kirkland was my go to guy from the list. he is a cop version with much less money of walter masburn. his voice and appearance would fit totally with that one of red john. but he is dead, so that set me off. but he has a twin michael, who is portrayed to be the weaker twin. that might also explain the slightly softer voice of red john compared to krikland. so one of the twins still might be red john or very close to him. we should not rule that out.

--> here i like to bring in my favorite mashburn. in my opinion he looks simmilar to kirkland. so maybe the theory with face change with operation might be true in the end. everything else would match. the voice not so much, but you can train and fake that.



but i think the most matching part is thomas mcalister. he is sheriff, he is marked, so that would fit. he has to body and height that rosalind describes. of course he has less hair, but that is normal for an aging man. 
well why do i think it is him.
-he is present from the beginning
-his voice fits or at least is not far away from red johns
-age and physical appearance + hight fits, well the hair not so much, but that can be normal for an aging man.
-out of all suspects from the list, every time he speaks with jane, i get the feeling something might happen but both stay careful and cool, and jane never made it too obvious that he suspects him as red john, so mcalister never has to loose his cool
-marked, sheriff mark and tattoo
-i could go on for a while

but lets face some more important facts. from an episode we know that red john walks kind of funny somtimes (don´t remember the episode, but also visible where he saves jane from copycat, and walks strangely down the stairs, pushing one leg after the other) and also their walk in general seems to be identical. look at some episodes and compare their walk.

another episode where one of red johns helpers (woman) is caught and dies on her way to the cell, and you see someone walking at the end of the hall. she smile at him. looks like a sheriff and again the walk seems to match red johns and mcalisters.



one last argument in favor of mcalister, and i think this one is huge: first recall 2 things heller said in an interview. a) at the end of 6x1 you get a clue, but will not be able to use it until episode 7 or 8.
and b) he many times says it is like looking for waldo. so you have to pay attention to the details and really search for waldo.

--> i think the clue are the pigeons at the end of episode 1!!! than in episode 2 you see this woman with the rings and that looks like fat girl version of patridge and she is feeding pigeons.!!!! so that is the clue in my opinion, but you can not use it yet, since BP is dead, and they show it only for some seconds.

here is the video. look again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=772FU_fAjj4

this really looks like BP, watch, rings and so on, but that is not possible. i think this is to distract us, so we can not find waldo!!!! it only shows you the direction where you have to look. look at the background. there you will se a man. did you find waldo???
start looking from  00:51 behind lisbon. look how he looks like. and how he walks. seems to be the sheriff without his hat, notice the sidebacks??? where his gun and maybe walky talky is??? 

at 01:05 you see him again, how he pulls his foot strangely behind the other!!!!!
that is typical mcalister and red john style of walking. what is he doing here. should be in nappa valley right? for me this is what find waldo means!

Imagine you are Bruno Heller. You created The Mentalist.
You know that people will talk about the show for many years to come after it's finished. 
The whole Red John saga will be written down in the wikipedia, everywhere..

I'm sure you would want to make Red John someone worthy, a cult figure, who won't be easily forgotten.

I'm sorry but Haffner, Smith and Bertram are quite insignificant characters, in 10 years we won't even remember their names.

Now the sheriff and Stiles are a different story.

I can easily see this sentence in the wiki for example: "Red John, who was revealed as Bret Stiles, head of the cult Visualize (portrayed by Malcolm McDowell)..."

Or : "Red John, who was revealed in season 6 as the sheriff of Napa county, Sheriff McAllister, portrayed by Xander Berkeley, blablabla..."

Just think about other shows, we always just remember the important characters. (Like from Lost I can only remember Jack, Sawyer and Locke).
 
Red John supposed to be someone very charismatic and memorable. Stiles is very charismatic, and the sheriff is different, more of a loner, and we will always remember him as 'the sheriff'..The other 3 are all the same, we wouldn't remember them in 10 years..

(Partridge is a good one too, he's already a cult figure, but I'm only looking at the 5 now.)

Lol, I know it's a crazy way to look at things, but at least it's something different..:D