Bruno Heller is manipulating our minds by that list misdirecting us. Jane purposely set up his room pointing to those suspects on his list because Jane knows there is another disciple close to the CBI. Isn't it odd that Homeland security became involved in the Red John case as Patrick is getting closer? Jane had a smirk on his face after he discovered his evidence room was broken in to. It's obvious Kirkland sent men to break in to Janes evidence room so that a message to Red John can be relayed about Patricks suspect list and that's why Red John knew Jane's suspect list. Bruno Heller is trying to make us look at different people and question suspects as if we are Jane himself. We have often seen incomplete sentences in some of the Mentalist episodes ("He is Mar", "Roy") to name a few. What if Bruno Heller is doing the same. "We can trust that list." Why couldn't he just say, Red John is on that list. Also, that list was technically Red Johns list, not Patrick Janes. Jane did not verbally confirm it instead he conveniently pulled out pictures, perhaps this is to steer Lisbon into the wrong direction so Patrick can have Red John to himself because he is getting closer. I also find it odd that Patrick destroyed the CD which is evidence and Lisbon didn't say a word. It's also possible that Lorelei's death was a hoax and set up because if you look at the Red John smiley face at Lorelei's crime scene, it's not similar to the common Red John one. I think Jane and Lorelei faked her death and the video to keep Lorelei out of the radar from the CBI and Kirkland. This will also lure out additional disciples in the CBI or Kirkland because Red John will confirm to them only that he did not kill Lorelei. Patrick faked someone's death before. It was also odd that Patrick said "she had it coming" at Lorelei's crime scene when he saw her "dead". He said it almost purposely.

Patricks mind is a memory palace and he doesn't need to write his suspects down. There is a list in Patricks mind that hasn't been revealed. I also think Red John is someone who has his own story that we have not heard of and will ultimately be played by a well known actor. Take Saw for example. How crazy was it that the guy who cut off his leg in the first movie, Dr Lawrence, was actually the Jigsaw Killers replacement discovered in the 7th Saw movie! There's no jaw drop with that current list! Wouldn't it be interesting if Red John was revealed in an episode and it was Sean Penn for example, who played Red John. That would be nuts! When you watched Wedding Crashers how crazy was it that "Chaz" was played by none other than Will Ferrel. It's possible a very well known actor was shown in one episode very briefly but we were distracted to spot it. Brett Partridge is too skinny to fit Rosalind's description also he doesn't have the look as a master manipulator neither do the others. The ultimate villain and hero has a certain look and traits to be more appealing to their audience. Tony Montana was a ruthless drug lord but his character was so appealing to many because of the way he looked (scarface, clothes, attitude) and he was played by Al Pacino. Jane is purposely dressed with a suit and a vest to add more to his appeal. He drives a very strange car and his skill is uncanny making him likable like a super hero. He is a "super hero" with "super powers" therefore the villain is to be similar in that aspect. Brett Partridge and the others have no appeal, their characters are very uninteresting, and most doesn't even look the part! Brett Stiles on the other hand is a very interesting character and is played by an experienced charismatic actor. Lorelei is also an important character in the Mentalist, as soon as you saw that Emmanuel Chirqui was playing the role you knew immediately that Lorelei will be an important re-occurring character. Same concept. Red John is such a big deal that when we finally see him he will be played by a high end actor possibly someone we haven't seen in a while like Sean Penn or Vigo Mortensen.

I don't know who Red John is, all I'm saying is that Red John will be played by a high level actor where when you see him, you will know and feel its Red John. Nobody on that show right now is Red John because Red John is bigger than all of them!

He is Mar is actually He is Man(SON)  Red John is Charles Manson commanding his disciples to kill from prison.  All 7 people on Janes list are members of the New Manson family.

thomas mCallister = C
raymond Haffner = H
gale bertrAm = A
Robert Kirkland = R
bret stiLes = L
reede smIth = I
brEt partridge = E

CHARLIE! = Red John!!!

I would like to throw two items out to the floor for theories and discussion:

1.  "He is Mar"  Could it actually spell something else and it just appears to look like the letters he is mar because it was scrawled by a dying and delirious man.  What else could it say?  Look at a still photo of it.  The H could be an 11.  The M looks suspect.  The r could be a p in the making.  Any theories?

2.  Has Heller actually given the viewers enough clues to solve the mystery of Red John or is it just guesswork at this point?

I've been pondering the "He is mar" from season 1 episode 11. I see theories that it could be "He is married" or that the r is really an n, and that it would have said "He is many", but there are other possibilities as well. And "married" isn't really a clue to anything. I also don't think Red John is a group. Serial killers don't share credit.

I think "mar" could have been intended as "marred" or "marked", meaning the victim had time to inflict a visible injury of some sort.  It may not be an r or an n at all, looking at the way the letter was formed (as the victim was dying), it could have been intended as c, d, e, f, g, i, l, m, o, p, q, or t. Going through a dictionary led me to eliminate some of these letters (other than as proper names), which left me with the above, marred and marked, plus martyr, maimed, maniac, and mad. Can any of the seven suspects on Janes list (confirmed by Heller) be eliminated or singled out as more likely under this theory?

Assuming it was marred or marked, we haven't seen McAllister since season 1, and we didn't meet Smith until season 5, which would have given him time to get plastic surgery. On the other side, Kirkland asked "Do you recognize me?" which could be a suggestion that he HAS had plastic surgery. These 3 can't be eliminated based on this assumption. Can Bertram, Partridge, Ardiles, or Haffner be eliminated?

The guy under is right!

when did Jane and Brett Partridge shake hands?

Please post a comment!

 Just submitting a quick theory, which i personally have not seen nor heard before..


My hypotheses is that Red John's identity is not one of the names Patrick put on the list... I don't actually have any evidence to support that specific thought but personally I just think it be way to easy and obvious. It would not fit how the series usually picture the "villain" of each individual episode. The fact that the main story revolves around catching Red John should, assuming the directors typical episode progression, be taken in to account - He'll want to make it end perfectly, without "us", the viewer, not suspecting a thing.


So who is Red John then? My guess is Patrick's physician during his admittance in the Asylum. Ask yourself why else would the director implement that fact? It has had, correct me If Im mistaken, no absolute purpose... yet. I couldn't really let this one go after seeing "Red John's Rules". Patrick claims that he has not told anyone about the memory. But what If he did and just doesn't remember doing it. Googling admitted people whom been diagnosed "mentally ill" but recovered, like Jane, most of them can't remember all of it, but judging by their recovery - some part of them must have been functioning from time to time. This is the only situation, that we know of, when Patrick's been mentally dysfunctional allowing "Dr Joe" as John called him self at one point, manipulate Patricks mind, perhaps even blocking the possibility of remembering  event, or even meeting him in person - It would not be completely unlikely since similar things has been done by Patrick and we know John has the same talent. I mean - a mental physiatrics would probably ask typical question like what Patrick thinks of when being happy, sad etc. I want to point out that a mental physiatrics or doctor, whatever the actual professional name is for the occupation is bound by patience-doctor confidentiality - keep that in mind for the next segment.


That being said, remember how Bob Kirkland is sitting beside Alexa Schoultz when Bertram is being told that Patricks been admitted in the asylum? That kind of information would need a search warrant or some kind of reason to extract from the confidentiality. I mean, I think by now, everyone is assuming or at least guessing Kirkland is connected to Red John.. I'm guessing a disciple, a close one. That could explain how he knew about Patrick being admitted in the Asylum and how Red John knew the name on the list patrick made - since Kirkland broke in to Patricks office and documented the-so-far progress Patrick made. Red John is an intellectual man, claimed to be equally obsessed with Patrick as Patrick with him, only difference is one identity, Patrick's, is known and his is not. That would allow him to almost always follow Patrick.


That's pretty much all i got.

Let me share some possible clues I've found.

Season 1
1) In S1E1 Partridge believed the crime was made by RJ, which was a mistake. This reduces his chances to be RJ.
2) In S1E11 "He is Mar..." was on the hotel wall. There is no sense to write a surname (like Mars or Martins), because there would be no "He is" before it. So "Mar..." is something else. The most probable guess is "Marshall", which may refer to almost anybody from the final 7 list, except Stiles,

Season 2
3) In S2E8 an officer poisoned Rebecca (Bosco's secretary). Her smiling reaction directs to the conclusion that the officer was RJ. This speaks only against Stiles to be RJ.
4) In S2E23 RJ reads Blake's poetry to PJ. I see no reason to do that. The only thing might be to make PJ suspect somebody, who likes Blake (but as this point we hadn't met Bertram yet). By the way, RJ may be creating suspects by giving wrong clues ("He is Mar...", "Tyger...", else).

Season 3
5) In S3E3 O'Laughlin, while working on visualists' case, lets a guy shoot the member who was going to provide evidence against Stiles. So the man who was working for RJ worked for Stiles.
6) In S3E3 Stiles passed to PJ information about Frye. Can't make any conclusion from this yet, but obviously it's an important moment.
7) In S3E9 Todd Johnson's last words were "Tyger, tyger". After being burnt by O'Laughlin (and so by RJ), Todd would like to say something very important to PJ. So either Todd wanted to say that it wasn't RJ in S2E23 saving PJ, but Todd himself, or Tyger is a clue leading to RJ's identity. The only real thing is the letters "TYGER" or "TIGER" (this variation is also met in literature) being in the name and/or surname of RJ, for example "parTRIdGE".
8) In S3E16 Bertram directed LaRoche to suspect Hightower, which was a favorable scenario for RJ.
9) In S3E16 Bertram quoted Blake's poetry.
10) In S3E23 Gupta said he was very religious. This is a Stiles direction.
11) In S3E24 Timothy Carter (fake RJ sent by RJ) was at the mall cafe. So who did know about the meeting? Bertram knew. Besides, RJ knew about the "hotel floors trick" (because RJ sent Carter). So in the list O'Laughlin should not be the only RJ man. And again, Bertram is the primary candidate.

Season 4
12) In S4E1 Bertram asked the attorney to enlong Timothy Carter's case and probably was sure Carter wasn't RJ. This brings some increasement for Bertram's chances to be RJ.
13) In S4E13 RJ is shown to be left-handed or at least "equal-handed". Watching different scenes brings to the conclusions, that Bertram, Haffner, Smith and Partridge are right-handed, while Kirkland may be left- or equal-handed with a high probability. No valuable scenes found with Stiles or McAllister.

Season 5
14) In S5E1 Bertram tried to save Lorelei at CBI and not to pass to feds. This may be interpreted both as a RJ behavior and not RJ behavior. Anyway this may be a clue.
15) In S5E5 Alexa Schulz phoned Minnelli by Kirkland's request. The first idea is Kirkland to be RJ, but I would prefer another theory: Kirkland was trying to find RJ himself or to prevent PJ from engaging in RJ case and so saving him (see the clues below for more prove of this theory).
16) In S5E6 the transporter-cop told that a fed man called him and organized Lorelei's transfer. This was not to kill her and not to free her (none of these two happened). So the goal was either to interrogate Lorelei (this is a Kirkland behavior) or to put her far from PJ (also a Kirkland behavior).
17) In S5E7 Kirkland told Lisbon to stay far from Volker. Not an RJ thing to do, right? So Kirkland wanted to save Lisbon. What a kind guy!
18) In S5E13, which was about the case of visualists' farm bodies, it's mentioned that Martin Talbot said that a kid painted the smiley on wall. So nowadays the "kid" must be 30-50 years old. Not Stiles.
19) In S5E18 it's revealed that Kirkland knows RJ's identity (no question was asked about RJ before making the deadly injection).
20) In S5E19 Kirkland stole the results of PJ's investigation. But those results were probably fake, as PJ predicted the robbery.


So, let me conclude one by one.

Bret Stiles - Excluded due to his age. An alternative is that Talbot lied about the "kid" to prevent further investigations.

Gale Bertram - A lot of evidence talks for this candidate, but there is no sense in the manipulation with Blake's poetry. Mentioned above clue #14 is also a probable reason to exclude Bertram.

Raymond Haffner - See no reason to exclude him (except the clue #13, which may be not a hard one actually). To be honest, I can't see him being RJ because of S5E13, in which Haffner tried to get information from Lisbon about visualists' case by HIMSELF. Not an RJ style action.

Reede Smith - The same: see no reason to exclude except the clue #13. Actually the main reason to suspect him is his name. Which is the most famous fake name? John Smith (Red John, Reede Smith).

Bob Kirkland - Excluded. A very interesting character, but obviously not RJ. The first reason is clue #16. The second and more valuable is the fact that the disc record with Lorelei which we see in the last episode is made BEFORE Kirkland broke into PJ's room (combined with clue #19, Kirkland just wanted to find out how far PJ succeeded in his investigation). So, I Kirkland might be an ex-victim of RJ or an ex-companion. Anyway, Kirkland wants revenge. The "do you recognize me" question leads to the plastic surgery theory. So Kirkland may be Carter Peak somehow survived. Or Kirkland may be himself in the flashback scene, but later replaced by Todd Johnson. Martin Talbot may also be connected to Kirkland. A little fantastic, but it never seemed that Kirkland is a bad guy.

Tom McAllister - If taking under consideration only fact and forgetting that we are talking about a serial which should have its drama and special logic, I would say McAllister is the most probable suspect. There is no single reason to say he is not RJ.

Brett Partridge - If the series were to finish in season 1 or 2, then Partridge should be RJ. I think he was something like a plan B in case the project isn't prolonged for a new season. But after 5 seasons he's not going to be RJ. Not many facts to prove it, but the very first clue is reasonable.

So, the least possible suspect is Kirkland (only 2%), then comes Stiles (about 6%), nexts are Bertram and Partridge (12% each). Top three opened by Haffner (18%) and Reede (20%). The main suspect unexpectedly is McAllister (30%). He was nobody before the last episode, but now we should expect all the seven to be key characters in season 6, so it's actually not reasoned to say "he's not common enough to be RJ".
Everything said above is based on the belief that PJ's list is true.