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

Brand new interview about episode 7!

"there will be an answer to the fate of Brett Partridge".!!! (finally)

http://tvline.com/2013/11/15/the-mentalist-season-6-preview-final-three-red-john-suspects/

I have an "out there" theory, but at the same time, it oddly makes a little bit of sense.

Grandma raises three children, Kristina, "John" and another girl that is dying.  She takes the dying girl to the carnival to see the "boy wonder," who gives them false hope.  Out of revenge, Kristina and "John" plot their revenge.  "John" visits the carnival, meets Jane and also develops his "mentalist" abilities.  Kristina professes to be a psychic, while "John" becomes Red John. 

In the last minutes of s06e06 when PJ says "...one of you here is Red John" and by the time he pulls the shotgun and points Haffner to stay down 4 of the 5 suspects laugh,start talking to PJ,start asking questions...But Thomas McCallister dont he is quiet calm dont you think?...Look at his face when PJ says one of you here is RJ he is like "oh come on now Patrick why you ruin our game?"

Bruno Heller said that it was very important for Partridge to die in the first episode, but i haven't find out a good explanation of this yet. OK i will try to explain it.

Killing Partridge (everyone's favorite until season 6) at the first episode before giving away more clues about Red John and not clearly allowing us to see his death ensured that none can be 100% sure about who Red John is. Every theory about Partridge has a big question: "But. what if Partridge is really dead?" and every theory about every other suspect has another big question: "What if Partridge is not really dead?".
By doing this Bruno really ensured that none will be 100% sure about Red John before his actual reveal and he really succeeded. With the blurry death of Brett Partridge everyone asks himself either one of the 2 questions above after completing his thought about a suspect, none is sure.
My Opinion? Partridge is really dead. Cmon! Partridge was the obvious choice even without the list, he was there in every Red John murder, he has a well thought name that they got from one of William Blake's paintings that really makes his fans to be sure, as they think "cmon it cant be a coincidence". Partridge is really the obvious, he fits Red John and you dont need to see his name in the list to suspect him.
For me Red John is Thomas McAlister. He was there since the very begging and he was a safe choice because none could suspect him before they see his name on the list. We have no clues about him and they really don't wanna make us think its him, in contrast to Partridge in which every clue leads to him even the voice (major clue) but i think its a misdirection on purpose.
OK if you wanna see how you can eliminate every other suspect except McAlister and Ray Haffner check this video I made and has some pretty good responses. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohIxFnOnRCk

Watch my explanation about Red John's voice here, and be aware that when Red John talks he either wears a mask or we cant see his face so check this out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AI-RpwT2M8
yeah explained with Bane mask from Batman but its a pretty good way to explain the voice, because the actual Red John would never giveaway his voice ;)

Uh and check this photo:
http://images.buddytv.com/btv_2_800033859_1_434_593_0_/xander-berkeley-in--.jpg

Well it was clear that someone put a bomband I have no idea what will happen in the chapter on Sunday so mojare me with what I came up way home.
One of 3 Tigers put a bomb on the couch, because he knows what the 3 pointsperhaps this under your hat or put on (remember that is stealthy to move)
when lifting the 3 tigretones jane leads to one side of the room, and one of3 someone tries to take the gun and there jane bomb explodesStiles dead and Haffner (the sheriff disappears) Bertram and smith did not know that the sheriff was rjand for dead and people say that is rj smith applause and everything ends. in that go by the sheriffIn the News Jane Smith be blamed Rjwhile the sheriff is tracking (flashback)rj see life as a young man to the next chapter, but I think equallywill define Bertram's letters and Sheriff

I love this forum and all the theories about Red John....In fact I am quite addicted to it...and I have to say many of the contributors have presented reveals that would make for awesome endings to the Red John saga ...

I, myself have built some cases, and accused Ray Haffner and Reede Smith of being the serial killer ...

... but I'm afraid I have framed two innocent men ( well sort of innocent )...

I have found the real killer ...

The serial killer known as Red John is ( drum roll ) Sheriff Thomas McAllister....final answer...

Why McAllister ?

Well, the reason might seem absurd ... but it's because there is nothing linking him to Red John murders .... That's right ... He's Red John because there is no evidence against him ...

( Huhhhh???)

Remember when the seven suspects were first revealed...It was Bob Kirkland ( check ), Brett Partridge ( check ), Ray Haffner ( check ), Sheriff Tom McAlistar ( wtf - Who ???? ) ...  .  Didn't you have to check IMDB just to remember who the this guy was ? He is a character completely off the radar ... Someone you might think was just there to pad out the list of seven ...

But the more you think about it ... Would Red John ever admit to being in Visualize ( Haffner ) .... would he ever quote Tyger Tyger ( Bertram ) ... would he ever do anything to draw attention to himself as a suspect ?

Never ...

" Red John never makes mistakes " ... and this is from Red John expert, and investigative genius Patrick Jane ... If Red John had made any mistakes at any time Patrick would have caught him ... Patrick is never fooled ... A little glance or a misspoken word is enough for him to crack a case ... but Red John never does anything, ever, that points to his real identity ...

How would a man like that look ?

Like an anonymous nobody ... maybe like a small town Sheriff with a room temperature IQ ...

Keyser Soze said " The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist " ...

Red John's greatest trick is the world doesn't even think of him as a possibility as Red John ... In fact the world doesn't think of him at all ...

If Red John hadn't made the sole mistake of revealing his meeting with Jane ... If the list of seven had not been deduced ... but Red John was about to be caught ... all the other six on the list would still be suspects  ...

But 99 % of viewers wouldn't even remember who McAllistar was ... In fact, it's fair to say, Jane himself would barely remember him ...

Just the way Red John would want it ...


That's it ... No more theories from me ... just going to read other peoples ... keep them coming they're great ...

( PS Brett Partridge helped him somehow ... Is he sometimes a proxy? Is it his voice used when Red John talks ? )