Red John (shortened as RJ, or RJK, for "Red John Killer", in the FBI and the CBI files) is a nickname of the central antagonist in the Mentalist TV Show. During a conversation with Gale Bertram in the Season 5 premiere, Patrick Jane bills Red John as "California's most notorious serial killer." Red John is a criminal mastermind who murdered nine women and one man, including Patrick Jane's wife and daughter, five years before the Pilot episode. This is confirmed by Patrick Jane in the origins episode, Red Dawn. In this episode, the CBI enlisted Patrick Jane.  It is believed that Red John started his killing spree sometime in 1998, with convict Orville Tanner, since deceased, the father of Dumar Tanner, but his real first murder was in 1988. In the episode His Red Right Hand, it is revealed that his third and fourth victims, Carter & Janet Peak, husband and wife, were killed in 2000. Since then, he has killed many other people and remains unscathed, alive, and still on the loose.

The man that pretends to be Red John and is truly knowledgable about the death of Jane's wife and daughter in episode Strawberries and Cream, in the following episode Little Red Book only turns out to be an accomplice named Timothy Carter. He was killed by Jane, however the real Red John is still in freedom.

At the end of season five, the final Red John suspects are Bret Stiles, Gale Bertram, Ray Haffner, Reede Smith, Bob Kirkland, Thomas McAllister and Brett Partridge.

Contents 1 The character 2 Appearances / Physical Description/Personality 2.1 Modus operandi 2.2 Victimology 3 Copycat 4 Known Victims 4.1 Personal 4.1.1 Survived victims 4.2 By Proxy and Accomplices 4.2.1 Survived victims 4.3 Uncertain attribution or involvement 5 Other Known Aliases 5.1 Dr. Joe - N. H. 5.2 RJ Solutions, Inc. 5.3 Roy Tagliaferro 5.4 Agent Rojo (with Rebecca) 5.5 Cut Iron Properties 5.6 Agent Nemo 6 The Jane Family 7 Red John's Footsteps 8 Red Sky in the Morning 9 Fake Death 10 Always Bet on Red 11 Red Is the New Black 12 The Crimson Hat 13 Connection with Lorelei Martins 13.1 The list of suspects 14 Red John's Rules and the final list 15 Trivia 16 See also 17 References

The characterEdit

From the beginning, the character Red John remained unseen, his identity unknown to the audience and his face in the shadows or masked. However, Bruno Heller said in an interview that he might have already cast Red John and he might have already appeared in the series. In the episode Red Sails In The Sunset, Red John's accomplice, Lorelei Martins unintentionally told Patrick Jane he'd shaken hands with Red John.  Writers have compared RJK to Waldo, a famous character for children who appears in the background. "You've got to look at it like Waldo" as Ashley Gable once tweeted in the offical Mentalist Writer twitter account. He is also compared to Professor James Moriarty (a.k.a Napoleon of Crimes"), the antagonist of Sherlock Holmes, whose stories are known for using a web of followers to commit crimes. Heller describes Red John as Jane's White Whale, Moby Dick of Melville's book, the obsession that destroys Captain Ahab.

Red John first appeared in the deleted scene of the pilot episode,

sitting on a lounge chair, watching news on TV holding a remote control with his right hand. Another appearance is in the episode Red is the New Black in which he sits listening to his former lover, Rosalind Harker, converse with Jane. Red John holds a cup of tea with his left hand. This might strengthen the argument that the antagonist is probably right handed, because most people hold their drinks with their weaker hand. In Red John's appearance in "Red Sky in the Morning," he is dressed in a Grim Reaper black cloak and a distorted mask. In the pilot, Dr. Linus Wagner kills two people Red John-style and is shown wearing a hooded grim reaper gown.  Since Red John never leaves survivors, it makes no sense that Wagner would have the prescience or knowledge to wear what Red John wears two seasons later. One clue, undeciphered by any viewer, was dropped by Bruno Heller during an interview, where he said that the killer "likes Cold".

Red John appeared fleetingly as a a shadowy figure escaping from the abandoned house in the first-season finale. He wears a black hooded sweatshirt or robe when he killed Janet and Carter Peak in "His Red Right Hand"

The character of Red John is referred to as "he". Many of his known-accomplices refer to him as a male (which is most statistically common for serial killers).  In the final episode of the second season, Red John donned a distorted mask, black hooded robe and cowboy boots. The few parts of Red John that have been visible, e.g. the hands holding a tea cup in Red Is The New Black have been definitely masculine. 

It is noteworthy that the writers and executive producers Ashley Gable and Bruno Heller were not the only people involved in writing Red John-centric episodes. Starting from the season three, a pool of writers contributed to Red John episodes such as Tom Szentgyorgyi The Blood On His Hands and Daniel Cerone Red Queen.

Appearances / Physical Description/PersonalityEdit

To date, the character of Red John has made two definite and four possible appearances. The killer's first appearance showed only his hands holding a teacup while he  watched Jane in the season one finale, "Red John's Footsteps," and in the same episode, running from his hideout when Cho and Rigsby stormed the abandoned house where Maya Plaskett was being held captive. The second appearance was in the second-season finale, "Red Sky in the Morning", when he saved Jane from being killed by the college student copycat murderers Dylan and Ruth. His next appearance was when he paid a visit to his paramour Rosalind Harker, leaving the dead body of the morgue attendant as a sign. Other possible Red John's appearances: When his accomplice Rebecca Anderson was walked off, we can see a person poisoning her in "His Red Right Hand"(2x08), but his face remains unseen. It is not known whether the poisoner was Red John himself or another accomplice.  However, Rebecca did seem delighted and proud to see him, so it's very likely that it was Red John. Some believe that the "mystery man with the cap" who appeared earlier in that episode (caught in CBI HQ CCTV just before Rebecca killed Bosco) is Red John, so maybe this was a second possible appearance. Some theorize that a third possible appearance (a reflection in a computer screen) occurred when Red John was instant-messaging with Lisbon's team (using the alias "Dr. Joe N. H.") in "Red John's Friends".  However, it's more likely the reflection we see is Patrick Jane's face. In the episode "Red Queen", the cyclist seen riding through the CBI car park has been discussed as a possible Red John appearance. The cyclist had red accents in his clothing, but it has not been shown that Red John favors the color red outside of blood. It might also have been his insider, Craig O'Laughlin, who didn't appear in the episode. Another possible appearance of RJK, according to some viewers is in the final moments of the Crimson Hat episode. Jane and Lisbon reunite on a heap of sand, as an LVPD (Las Vegas Police Dept.) cruiser whizzes past them, siren screaming. It might imply that Red John

was inside the police cruiser (pictured) since the sting operation to catch the killer involved only the CBI and to some extent the FBI (with the intervention of Darcy to stop RJK). So the LVPD was not involved at all. This might also imply that Red John was making his phone call from the police cruiser while using the late Luther Wainright as a stand-in in the limousine.  Of all these cited appearances, Red John as the

poisoner and as the man in the cap seem the most plausible by now.    Only six episodes have focused on Red John, in spite of him being the show's (and Jane's) main antagonist. He appears to be a Caucasian male of average height:  Rosalind Harker described him as being "just under six feet tall (approx 180 cm), with short, straight hair, not muscular but not soft with strong hands." Since his killings date back to the 90s, Red John is probably at least in his late 30s or 40s. In Red Rover, Red Rover, a young girl named Haley, who had met what was probably the real Red John face to face,

told Jane that he was white, wearing a baseball cap and that he had an odd voice.  In Red Sky in the Morning, Red John speaks with a high-pitched voice. From the care Red John has taken to elude the authorities,the possibility cannot be ruled out that he was using a voice-altering device. He speaks with the same voice in The Crimson Hat.

Patrick Jane has commented that "Red John thinks of himself as a showman; an artist. He has a strong sense of theater," which is evident in his use of the Smiley Face. Jane adds: "... the first thing that anyone sees is the face on the wall. You see the face first and you know. You know what's happened and you feel dread. Then, and only then do you see the body of the victim. Always in that order."

In a extra scene of the Pilot, Jane describe Red John and his life: "He is a very ordinary looking man, mid thirties, medium height, thinning brown hair. He’s methodical and tidy, keep himself very clean. He has a small speech impediment that he’s deeply ashamed of. He works at a clerical job, and lives with his mother or a sister in a single story blue house with a citrus tree in the front yard. Lemon, I think".

"He doesn't have partners, he has tools," Jane says. Red John takes great pleasure in the suffering of others, He has a fascination with Jane - As Brett Stiles points out, "it's a kind of love, Patrick."  Red John is a narcissist and is angered by people acting like they know him, even more so by those who slander him, which was clearly shown when he killed Jane's wife and daughter when Jane insulted him on a talk show, and when he killed a woman who insulted him when she called him a "beast" on a talk show. What also angers him is when copycats do "cheap imitations" of his work, and he will kill them for their presumption. However, he did not apparently go after Dr. Linus Wagner, who copycatted him in the Pilot. This could be either because he may have been unaware that he was the one who had done it, he may not have had the time to plan his attack or he didn't try because Wagner's copycat murder was very nearly perfect (except he placed the smiley face in the wrong place) or because he copycatted him to pin the crime on him and not out of some form of delusional idolization, like his two later copycats.  Or it's a disconnect because the writers hadn't completely thought through the character to make his behavior consistent.

Each one of Red John's accomplices has seen him as god-like, a messiah figure. Because of this, they are willing to do anything Red John asks them to. They see his commitment to killing as something of a liberation. From the apparent devotion of his accomplices, it could be suggested that Red John might be running a cult. Some accomplices eagerly accept death are a sacrifice to Red John. His known accomplices have mostly been closet psychopaths who appear completely normal. Jane refers to John's accomplices as "disciples".

Red John is extremely intelligent, a match for Jane, as seen from his ability to outwit him time and again.   He has twice hacked into the CBI computers without being detected. He sets up phony companies and bank accounts to keep his identity a secret. Possibly a symptom of his narcissism, Red John also appears to pay close attention to talk shows (or subscribe to a service that picks up mentions in the media) in case he is spoken of unfavorably since he kills the people who do so (such as James Panzer and talk show host Jacqueline Sandoval) on the same night that the shows on which they denigrate him air. Finally, Red John is a master manipulator, evident in his ability to get people to trust him.

Red John may also have something of a scent fetish, since he memorized very specifically what Patrick's wife and daughter smelled like when he killed them, information he passed on to Timothy Carter so he could impersonate him.

When Brett Stiles calls Red John's preoccupation with Patrick "a kind of love," he hits the nail on the head. Red John loves attention. And no one gives Red John more than Patrick. Red John is a showman; he's performing.  And he delights having such a discerning audience. The brilliant Patrick Jane, whose life is devoted to deciphering every of his moves. His life would be diminished without Jane.

While some have expressed discomfort with a thorough exploration of a psychosexual component to Red John's obsession with Jane, no analysis of the killer would be complete without it. Many Wikia readers have expressed interest in such an analysis.  What follows is an evaluation of Red John from a clinical psychologist. Over the course of the series, quotes like "It's a kind of love," and "he wanted you badly," as well as actions like saving Patrick's life, then stroking his shoulder and chest lovingly and, in the Crimson Hat, releasing him alive despite Patrick having duped him (many people have been killed for less), all point to a deep attraction. Rebecca Anderson, Bosco's assistant and Lorelei, Red John's mistress have told Jane that he and Red John are very much alike. Psychotherapists theorize that  "there's a desire to merge here," on Red John's part. Red John wants Patrick to be like him. And perhaps he wants to be like Patrick. Red John could have had Lorelei bail Patrick out of jail, take him for a drink and then drop the bomb about who sent her and why. The further step of having her sleep with him was, as therapists say, diagnostic. There's a strong sexual component on Red John's side of the equation. Not necessarily conscious and not necessarily anything he would act on. By proxy, through Lorelei, Red John now has the most intimate knowledge of Patrick. And the cherry on the sundae for Red John, is that he got that knowledge without Patrick's consent.

This attraction is one-sided. Jane's interest in Red John is about revenge. But Patrick is brilliant, well-read and possessed of deep insight into the human psyche. When he talks about Red John "getting his heart's desire" in recruiting him, he shows he has the psychological astuteness to understand what's going on.  

Red John draws a Smiley Face ("The crying smiley") as a signature to his killings. This smiley face is drawn with the blood of the victim, clockwise, using three fingers of his rubber-gloved right hand, according to the observation that Brett Partridge came up with. However, because the blood hasn't yet congealed when he draws it, the face looks like it's crying. Patrick Jane says in the first episode, Pilot, that "Red John thinks of himself as a showman, an artist. He has a strong sense of theater." Concerning Red John's Smiley Face signature, Jane says "... the first thing that anyone sees is the face on the wall. You see the face first, and you know. You know what's happened and you feel dread. Then, and only then, do you see the body of the victim. Always in that order."

Modus operandiEdit

Red John kills his victims with "a frenzy of stabbing and cutting with subsequent abuse of the viscera" according to the coroner in the pilot. His weapon of choice, which he is seen wielding in a flashback in His Red Right Hand and when killing one of his copycats in Red Sky in the Morning, appears to be a linoleum knife, which has a short, curved blade. This is the type of knife Patrick buys when fabricating the evidence against Thomas Maier in the murder of James Panzer.  It was mentioned in the Pilot that he uses a taser to incapacitate his victims and binds them with plastic flex cuffs before stabbing them.  In a scene depicting his early years as a serial killer in His Red Right Hand, he is seen slashing a woman's throat and stripping her without using either. Most victims are apparently undressed before they are killed, either down to their underwear or completely. Red John has painted the toenails of the two victims red with her own blood. One of these two victims was Patrick Jane's wife. With the other, he did this with intent to lure Jane into a trap at the end of Season 1. He also changed his m.o., some time, using guns, fire, poison.

VictimologyEdit

Red John's victims are mostly female. However, he has killed men when it was necessary, but it's likely he derives little gratification from the act (except, probably, his first murder at barn in Elliston). The copycat incident in Red Sky in the Morning marked the first time Red John is depicted using a gun in a murder (though he may have killed Dr. Towlen Morning, who was also shot (but it's never confirmed that he and not one of his accomplices, possibly Rebecca Anderson, was the killer). It would appear Red John abides by some form of twisted code in choosing his victims, as he deliberately did not kill the innocent boy who was being threatened by the two copycats, choosing instead to shoot him with a nonlethal but incapacitating shot. Rather, he spared the boy because he had no reason to kill him, and spared Jane because he enjoys having a worthy adversary or as Brett Stiles put it, "it's a kind of love," something with a deep psycho-sexual component. For Red John, the most important part of his killings is the "show", he doesn't care much about the victims.

CopycatEdit

Jane compared him with Elvis Presley in terms of popularity and followers. More than disciples and accomplices he has many copycat-killers. He hates imitations of this work, except when he himself is behind them. His copycats are Ruth, Dylan and Wesley Blankfein/Grady Shipp (who killed Marley Sparrow in his name), Dr. Linus Wagner (two victims: Allison Randoph and Gregory Tannen), Timothy Carter (accomplice and impersonating Red John; one victim, not killed: Debbie Lubin, kidnapped but rescued by Jane and Lisbon). After his acquittal for the murder of Timothy Carter/Red John, Jane framed the dead Thomas Maier, father of James Panzer's first victim, Molly, as the killer of Panzer in order to cover up the fact that Red John was still alive. 

Known VictimsEdit

Victims of Red John, with years and place and other information.

PersonalEdit

Red John (or one of his minions) have killed about twenty-eight victims or more (since about 40). About 24-28 victims are attributed to Red John himself.

NB: There are also some unknown victims appearing in the "Red John files", called "Jane Doe" (not included among the following names).

• 1988 (Elliston): The Visualize Barn Murders (two men, both were bound by the hands and killed in an unspecified way, maybe injured by shotgun pellets and finished with knife; almost certainly killed by Red John himself):
  • Martin Talbot
  • Allen Charney
• 1998 (San Angelo County?): Unnamed female victim, killed with Orville Tanner's help (according to the Red John files (in this case a newspaper article) this victim could've been the woman that's mother of three sons; Tanner revealed at his trial that the true killer is Red John)
• 1998 or 1999: Unnamed female victim; RJ, in this time, is still called " The Smiley Face Killer." The articles also clamed that "the murders are connected"
• 2000 (Stockton?): The Peaks (the third and fourth victims, according to the classic original count of victims)
  • Janet Peak
  • Carter Peak (incidental; stabbed him in the torso, slashed his throat, and buried the body in concrete; first known male victim)

    

• 2000-2003 Five unnamed female victims (some unseen victims have names, visible in Red Dawn: Flusfeder, D. )
• 2003 (probably May 18th, night of Full Moon; Malibu): The Janes (tenth and eleventh victim; ninth and tenth female victim) :
  • Angela Ruskin Jane (Patrick's wife; her toenails were painted with her own blood)
  • Charlotte Anne Jane (Patrick's daughter)
• 2004-2008: Unnamed female victim.
• 2007: Miranda Martins (sister of his future accomplice Lorelei Martins; abducted, raped, and left for dead; died of heat stroke; Jane attributed the murder to RJ/Roy Tagliaferro himself, in 2012; killed with help from Jason Lennon & Julia Howard)
• 2009 (Tijuana, Mexico): Jared Renfrew and Juana Porfiria Braga
• 2009 (San Angelo): Emma Plaskett (her toenails were painted with her own blood, like Jane's wife, to challenge Patrick; with Dumar's help)
• 2009 (Stockton): Dr. Towlen Morning (Carter Peak's family doctor; shot in the head and frozen)
• 2009 (Stockton): Marlon Hicks
• 2009 (Sacramento): Rebecca Anderson (accomplice; poisoned; almost certainly killed by Red John)^[1]
• 2010 (Lake Tahoe, Nevada): Jacqueline Sandoval
• 2010 (Salinger Mill): The copycat incident:
  • Dylan (shot)
  • Ruth (shot in the abdomen and her throat cut)
• 2011 (Sacramento): Ron Deutsch (accomplice, found electrocuted; killed by RJ, attributed to him by Patrick Jane in 4x02)
• 2011 (San Francisco): James Panzer
• 2012 (Sacramento or San Angelo): Baris Acar (The morgue attendant)
• 2013 (Sacramento): Lorelei Martins (accomplice)
• 2013 (Sacramento) Eileen Barlow (In retaliation for Patrick Jane's knowledge that the two have met before; killed with the help of Miriam Gottlieb)

Survived victimsEdit

Red John's victims who were not killed, but injured or abducted

• 2009 (San Angelo): Maya Plaskett (not killed; abducted and held captive with the help of Dumar Tanner; rescued)

  

• 2010 (Salinger Mill): Wesley Blankfein (copycat, shot in the leg)
• 2010 (Sacramento): Kristina Frye (not killed; abducted and left in catatonic state)

By Proxy and AccomplicesEdit

People killed by his accomplices on his orders or in some other way caused by him

• 2009 (San Angelo): Unnamed police officer (shot by Dumar Tanner while trying to escape)
• 2009 (Sacramento): Bosco's team (shot to death by Rebecca Anderson)
  • Sam Bosco
  • Nick Martinez
  • Mark Dyson
• 2010 (Sacramento): Todd Johnson (serial killer and friend of RJ; set on fire; killed by Craig O'Laughlin)
• 2011 (Sacramento): Manuel Montero (Todd Johnson's accomplice; stabbed in the back; killed by O'Laughlin to frame Hightower for his and Johnson's murder, attributed to him by Patrick Jane in 3x16)
• 2011 (Sacramento): Max James (Hightower's cousin; died from heart attack: tortured to death unintentionally by Anthony Gupta)
• 2011 (Sacramento): Michael Takashima (Alan's roomate; shot by Anthony Gupta)
• 2011 (Sacramento): Alan Dinkler (blown up by Anthony Gupta)
• 2011: Two guards, Cole and Mayers (shot to death by O'Laughlin)
• 2011 (Sacramento): Timothy Carter (accomplice; manipulated Patrick into shooting him)
• 2011 (Sacramento): Isla the Assassin (accomplice, suicide maybe on RJ's order, jumped off a building)
• 2011 (Sacramento): Sally Carter (accomplice, suicide, slashed her wrists and throat in prison, maybe on RJ's order)
• 2013 (Sacramento): Miriam Gottlieb (accomplice, suicide poisoning herself on RJ's order)

Survived victimsEdit

• 2011 (Sacramento): Debbi Lubin (not killed, abducted and held captive by Timothy and Sally Carter; rescued)

Uncertain attribution or involvementEdit

• 1981 (August 4, Clovis): Unknown female victim (probably by a "Smiley Face Killer", per Jane's bulletin board in episode 5x13; The coincidence betweeen the photo and the report is not certain; maybe the murder is more recent)
• 2000: Orville Tanner (accomplice; officially deceased by heart attack in mental hospital)
• 2012 (Las Vegas): Luther Wainwright (CBI chief; abducted with Lorelei Martins, and killed in gunfire with FBI). ^[2]However, it is possible that he was already dead or deeply injured by RJ, before being tied in the limo
• 2013 (Sacramento): Jason Lennon (serial killer and accomplice, shot and injured by Lorelei Martins, killed with an syringe by Robert Kirkland; officially deceased by heart attack in hospital)

Other Known AliasesEdit

In order to keep his cover intact, Red John has used a number of additional aliases during his career as a serial killer. Known ones include:

Dr. Joe - N. H.Edit

An anagram for "Red John". He used the alias "Dr. Joe - N. H." ("N. H." being short for New Hampshire) in "Red John's Friends" when instant-messaging with Lisbon's team. The IM session provides another possible clue to Red John's identity, and may be another appearance.

Fans are divided over the identity of the reflection on the screen during the IM session. Some fans claim that you can clearly identify the reflection as Red John's because he appears to be wearing a white collar, while Jane is wearing a pale blue color. It also appears that the user is typing from a seated position rather than a leaning position, which Jane is supposed to be typing from. On the contary, if we closely look at the face in the reflection, it has a small pimple beneath the left eye. Look at the picture named "Reflection of red john" here, you will be able to spot it (just below the dark line beneath his eye). And just after that IM session is over (red john disconnects from the network), Patrick talks to his colleagues about him. At that time, that pimple is clearly visible beneath his left eye. This means the reflection was nothing but of Patrick's face only.

RJ Solutions, Inc.Edit

"RJ Solutions, Inc." was the name used on an Internet order for a skywriting message in the shape of a Red John smiley in the beginning of Red John's Footsteps.

Roy TagliaferroEdit

While in a relationship with Rosalind Harker, Red John called himself "Roy Tagliaferro", the surname meaning "cut iron" in Italian. The name "Roy" derived by a Gaelic word that means "red".

In "Red Is the New Black", Red John visited Rosalind under this same alias. Interestingly, once Jane arrives, Rosalind seems to be hypnotized as she keeps playing the piano without ever acknowledging the FBI or Patrick Jane.

In Red Sails In The Sunset, it is said that Lorelei Martins's sister Miranda has been raped and then murdered by someone called Roy. Jane believes that it was Red John using this alias and is later confirmed by Jason Lennon in There Will Be Blood.

Agent Rojo (with Rebecca)Edit

In "His Red Right Hand", Jane and Agent Kimball Cho go to investigate one of Red John's past murders. When the coroner discovers that the body is missing from the morgue, he checks the log and finds out that an "Agent Rojo" ("rojo" being Spanish for "red") had claimed the dead body. Later, it's learned that it was actually Rebecca Anderson who used the alias to claim the body. This could have been used by Red John to get inside so he could kill Rebecca afterwards...

Cut Iron PropertiesEdit

Cut Iron is a bogus real estate or construction firm created by Red John in order to purchase some land (Orville and Dumarr Tanner's family homestead) and build on it a house with a prison basement under a trap door in Red John's Footsteps. The name of the firm ties into Red John's Roy Tagliaferro alias, as the surname Tagliaferro means "cut iron." This connection was made by Virgil Minelli who suggested that Van Pelt search for Tagliaferro using the english translation of his name.  This is the only episode that depicts Red John as wanting to capture/torture/kill Patrick Jane.  Dumar Tanner says "he wanted you badly" implying he would undergo slow torture instead of being killed quickly (or brainwashed , destroying his mind, like Kristina Frye).  "We'll have to go someplace else where we can take our time."   Jane says to Lisbon in Strawberries and Cream, "if Red John wants me,  he knows where to find me.  I can't worry about that."

Agent NemoEdit

A mysterious pretended FBI agent, who blackmailed, at phone, a guard to put Lorelei Martins in a federal prison, according his friend of FBI. It's possible that Nemo was Red John. Incidentally, "Nemo" is latin for "no one".

The Jane FamilyEdit

In a television talk show appearance, Patrick Jane told the hosts and audience that he was using his psychic abilities to help the police find Red John. He also made fun of Red John, calling him sad, ugly, lonely, and tormented. When Jane returned home, he found a note on the door from Red John, saying: "Dear mister Jane, I do not like to be slandered in the media, especially by a dirty money-grubbing fraud. If you were a real psychic, instead of a dishonest little worm, you wouldn't need to open the door to see what I've done to your lovely wife and child."  It's would make sense that if Red John felt slandered, there's a good chance that he's anything but sad, ugly, lonely, and tormented.  

Five years later, at the end of the pilot episode, Jane returns home and the camera zooms in, showing Red John's Smiley Face in blood still on the wall. Since then, Red John has shown himself to be as obsessed with Jane as Jane is with him, risking capture just to observe Jane.

Red John's FootstepsEdit

In the first-season finale, Red John's Footsteps,

we are again confronted with another Red John-centric episode. This time, the victim is a female teenager who is found murdered outdoors, and whose twin sister has gone missing. However, upon arriving at the crime scene, Jane notices something odd which puzzles him. Although he knows that Red John is behind the murder, Jane notices that the victim had either been abducted before being stabbed or was already dead before being dumped in the open field, which does not fit Red John's standard M.O. of killing all his victims indoors. In addition, while the CBI investigates the scene, a skywriting plane appears in the area and makes Red John's Smiley Face in the air. The team concludes that the missing twin is alive, but in grave danger from Red John, and later, that Red John might be working with someone else.

  It is obvious that Red John's aerial theatrics are for Jane.

As the episode progresses, the CBI discovers that Red John used Roy Tagliaferro as his fake name and had a relationship with a blind redheaded  woman named Rosalind. When Jane and Lisbon pay a visit to Rosalind, she tells them that she has not seen Roy (Red John) in six months. During the final showdown, when Patrick Jane confronts Sheriff Hardy (who turns out to be one of Red John's accomplices), Red John is keeping an eye on him from the adjacent room (the one Patrick tried to unlock when he entered the house). We see Red John drinking from the same china cup tea set seen in Rosalind's house. The hands holding the cup appear to be male.

Red Sky in the MorningEdit

Red John finally appears again in the season 2 finale. For the first time since the pilot episode, the viewer is able to see the killer in the flesh, wearing a black cloak, cowboy boots, and a grotesque transparent mask that distorts his face. After he shoots to death one teenager, stabs the wounded female teenager to death (who turn out to be the copycats), and wounds a third one (who was an innocent victim of the two), Red John approaches Jane, who is bound to a chair, stroking him  lovingly and reciting from William Blake's famous poem "The Tyger." As Red John prepares to leave, he tells Jane that Kristina Frye sends him her love.

Fake DeathEdit

During the season 3 finale, after Red John's accomplice Craig O'Laughlin is killed while trying to kill Hightower in her mountain cabin hideout, Jane (who is in a food court in a Sacramento mall) has Lisbon use the redial on O'Laughlin's phone and tell whomever answers that O'Laughlin is dead. An average looking gentleman (played by Bradley Whitford) sitting in the food court near Jane answers his phone. Jane, seeing this, has Lisbon tell him what the person she called said to her. It's the same thing that the man in the food court said, so Jane confronts him. The man first denies it, but moments later drops hints that he is Red John, keeping Jane at a safe distance by subtly pointing a revolver hidden inside a folded newspaper at him. "Red John" claims to have decided to "quit", retire, move away and get a new face and a new identity. Jane, however, is still skeptical, and confronts the man again as he tries to leave, only for him to reveal to Jane details of the murders of his wife and daughter, specifically, what they smelled like. This sends Jane over the edge, and he calls after the man, then guns him down with a weapon hidden in his coat pocket. Jane then sits down and calmly sips tea while waiting to be arrested, apparently satisfied that this man was indeed Red John.

It is revealed in the season 4 premiere, Scarlet Ribbons, that Ron Deutsch, the bald security guard who apprehended Jane at the mall, stole the revolver "Red John" had hidden in the newspaper as well as the cell phone that connected him to O'Laughlin. It was also revealed that the man was named Timothy Carter, a child abductor living with a fake identity. In the following episode, Jane brings Rosalind - the blind woman with whom Red John had a relationship - to the coroner's office to examine the body. She feels Timothy's face,and reveals that it was not the Red John she knew.

Always Bet on RedEdit

In the final moments of the episode "Always Bet on Red", just after the funeral of the father of one of Panzer's victims, a white Dodge whizzes past the mourners, including Jane and Lisbon.  It's possible Red John was behind the wheel and surveying the scene and keeping an eye on Jane's scheme.  

Red Is the New BlackEdit

During season four, Red John (as Roy) pays a visit to his paramour Rosalind Harker, after Susan Darcy found out from her that Timothy Carter was not Red John. While Rosalind Harker speaks with Jane, Red John is seen strolling past the camera and sits in a lounge chair holding a white teacup like before in the first season finale. It should be noted the Red John mannerisms were close to Jane's -- from how he crosses his legs to how he holds his teacup. When the authorities stormed Harker's house, RJK was

long gone. Jane and Darcy discover blood seeping under a door, finding a dead morgue attendant, who Darcy had previously talked to and who led Agent Darcy to talk to Rosalind Harker, although there was no smiling face anywhere near the attendant.

The Crimson HatEdit

Red John makes another semi-personal appearance in The Crimson Hat. After Patrick pretends to have a meltdown after the anniversary of his wife's and daughter's deaths, he meets Lorelei Martins, a

cocktail waitress, and spends the night with her. She is his first lover since his wife's death. The next morning, she reveals herself to be an associate of Red John, who offers  Patrick a new life if he will join him as a friend. Lorelei tells him that Red John wants a gift to show Patrick's sincerity: Lisbon's dead body. After Lisbon's team fake her and Rigsby's deaths and go into hiding, Patrick arranges a meeting with Red John and is met by Lorelei and an enforcer. Once Patrick is inside the car, Red John appears to be sitting in the backseat. He reveals that Patrick actually had him fooled for a while, but he found out their ruse thanks to a "friend" in the FBI, who told him when Agent Darcy figured it out. Red John then offers one more time to let Patrick in as one of his disciples, but Patrick turns him down again, telling him to go to hell. Red John then tells Lorelei to cut off two of his fingers. As the enforcer holds him against the car and Lorelei holds a pair of pruning shears to his finger, the FBI, who have arrested Lisbon's team nearby, arrive. The enforcer shoots at them and tries to drive away, only to be shot dead along with the person in the back seat. Unharmed, Lorelei is arrested. When Darcy looks in the back seat, she discovers that the man Patrick thought was Red John is actually a dead Luther Wainwright, who had been gagged and duct taped in place and with a phone around his neck through which Red John spoke. 

Connection with Lorelei MartinsEdit

In Red Dawn we take a look at the early beginnings of Patrick and the CBI, in a flashback; towards the end of the episode, during a telephone conversation between Virgil Minelli and FBI Agent Alexa Shultz, a man (named Robert Kirkland, as he's named in the episode's credits) rides with Alexa and thanks her when she arranges with Minelli to get frequent updates on the Red John Case.  Kirkland's voice contains notes similar to Red John's.  In If It Bleeds, It Leads, Kirkland reappears, greyer and with a beard, and describes himself to Lisbon as an Agent of Homeland Security. In Red Sails In The Sunset, Jane, with the help of Bret Stiles, orchestrates an elaborate plan to break Lorelei Martins out of prison after the FBI's attempts to hide her in The Crimson Ticket. Towards the end of the episode, Lorelei states "God you're just like him (Red John), you know that? Relentless manipulation

...I only wonder why the two of you didn't become lifelong friends the moment you shook hands" this indicates that the two have met but are not close.

In There Will Be Blood Red John kill Lorelei. Then, another Red John's friend, Jason Lennon, injured and comatose after Lorelei's assault, is killed by Bob Kirkland in Behind The Red Curtain.

The list of suspectsEdit

In Black Cherry we saw a notebook detailing some of Patrick's Red John's suspects: the visible names of these pages are: Brett Partridge, Vint Molinari, Dean Harken, Ellis Mars, Jason Cooper, Linus Wagner, Walter Mashburn, Towlen Morning, Virgil Minelli, Oscar Ardiles. In The Red Barn it's revealed that Red John, in his youth, was a Visualize member, and killed two men of this cult on a farm. Among named suspects of Jane, could be added Ray Haffner, who probably worked on the Visualize farm in 1988. CBS website post then the "files" of last 30 suspects in Jane's final list.

Red John's Rules and the final listEdit

In the fifth season finale, Red John's Rules, Red John strikes again, killing someone with connections to Patrick Jane's past in circus, Eileen Barlow.

Jane narrows down his suspect list to seven names. His final seven suspects for Red John are revealed:

• Bret Stiles - Visualize church leader
• Gale Bertram - CBI director
• Raymond "Ray" Haffner - private detective and Visualize member, former FBI and CBI agent
• Reede Smith - FBI agent

  

• Robert "Bob" Kirkland - Homeland Security agent
• Sheriff Thomas McAllister - sheriff of Napa County
• Brett Partridge - CBI forensics leader

When the case is closed, Patrick receives a DVD from the killer, through another Red John accomplice, which contains a message read to him by Lorelei before her death. It warns him of the murder committed in the episode, for delete a Jane's beautiful memory of the circus' time, and that he will begin killing again and often. He also turns out to have figured out the names of the seven final suspects before even Patrick could. Patrick seems surprised and worried by this fact, but it's not revealed how Red John exaclty knows these names.

TriviaEdit

• Part of the inspiration for Red John may have been Keith Hunter Jesperson, a serial killer also known as the "Happy Face Killer". He would send letters to police and prosecutors and sign them with a smiley face.
• It's currently unknown how Red John got his nickname, but given his narcissism, it's likely that he named himself somehow. The name was revealed to the public following the trial of RJK's accomplice, Orville Tanner. The possible inspirations for his name are: John Doe (name used for an "unknown and random man"), red blood or red hair, Red Dragon by Apocalypse of St. John (illustrated by William Blake), John the Baptizer, Gospel of John, first name of German composer Johann Sebastian Bach (his favourite musician).

See alsoEdit

• Red John Theories

ReferencesEdit