If forced to go with the list of 7, Bret Stiles is the only one with the charisma to attract even one follower, much less multiple followers willing to die for him.  Others have made good arguments for various people not on the list of 7--such as Ellis Mars (Theory #7265 • By Sesshofz), Mashburn, etc.

My interest is in PJ's back story and what happens after RJ is caught/killed.  This might be an interesting scenario:

o  Homeland Security suspects the existence of widespread, organized corruption within California law-enforcement agencies -- the state FBI office, the CBI, and even local PD's.  HS is interested because, aside from the crimes that might be committed or covered up, corrupt law-enforcement agencies are susceptible to being blackmailed or co-opted by domestic and international enemies of the US.

o Red John is a local serial killer either with no connection to the corrupt law enforcement people, or, who split from that group.

o PJ's extraordinary intelligence was identified when he was in foster care by Carson Springs Child Protective Services in his youth.  The CIA (or similar sister agency) has programs to systematically identify and recruit young people with extraordinary potential, and trolls for such youths (similar to Talman Bunting's recruitment of math geniuses for national security computer work).  Assume PJ is recruited as a teenager.

o PJ's  cover occupation is a "psychic" entertainer, arising from his carny background.  This affords him freedom to travel and set his own schedule, allowing him work for HS without it being obvious.

o  Angela and Charlotte Jane are PJ's family.  Both are killed in a car crash.  HS (now the overarching organization which includes the CIA, FBI, NSA, etc.) sees this as a unique opportunity to establish PJ as a mole within the CBI.  HS persuades PJ to use his family's death as a way of investigating corruption in CA law-enforcement--a way of salvaging something positive out of his personal tragedy.  HS has PJ make insulting on-air comments about RJ and then fakes the RJ murders of Angela and Charlotte.  This creates the excuse for PJ to want to work for CBI to pursue RJ. 

o  As part of the effort to establish his cover story for the investigation, PJ agrees to being hypnotized to block memories of his HS connection and to believe RJ murdered his family.  The FBI is suspicious nonetheless.  Robert Kirkland of HS intervenes to have Alexa Shultz of the California FBI office arrange reports on the CBI RJ case (and therefore on PJ) to quell the FBI's suspicions.  Kirkland also has his own motives for catching RJ and hopes PJ helps with this as well as uncovering the suspected law-enforcement corruption.

o  PJ tricks his way into the CBI.  As a CBI consultant, PJ is nicely positioned to observe and investigate the CBI and other California law-enforcement organizations.  He:
- is dismissed and underestimated as an amateur by actual agents and cops
- spends a lot of unstructured, unsupervised time at CBI by sleeping there (practically living there) with the excuse of insomnia and the need for CBI "white noise"
- has access to all levels of the CBI and frequent contact with the California FBI and local PD's
- doesn't have to keep a regular work schedule
-  has his RJ hunt to explain investigating all sorts of things without raising suspicion
-  is monitored by the FBI and HS via Minelli's agreement with Alexa Shultz of the FBI, thus obviating other FBI monitoring, and, allowing HS to keep tabs on what the FBI (thinks it) knows about PJ and his RJ investigation

o RJ didn't kill PJ's family, but comes to enjoy the cat-and-mouse with a worthy opponent.  RJ realizes PJ's true objective is to uncover law-enforcement corruption--the Tyger Tyger group--which is somehow a threat to RJ.  RJ thus occasionally helps/protects PJ.

o The RJ-PJ-Tyger Tyger connections become more complicated when PJ actually makes progress in identifying and catching RJ

o HS loses control of the situation because of Sophie Miller's death (she's the link to PJ's unadulterated memories) and Robert Kirkland's personal vendetta against RJ.  PJ is now uncoupled from HS and any recollection of the car accident which killed his family.  So far as PJ knows, RJ did indeed kill his family and the quest for vengeance is real and deserved.

The future holds PJ fulfilling his quest to get RJ.  Realizing PJ has learned far too much, the Tyger Tyger group targets PJ.  Assuming members of Lisbon's unit are hurt/killed by Tyger Tyger, PJ decided to pursue Tyger Tyger as a worthy objective now that he's eliminated RJ.

This theory is long, so bear with me.  However, I am going to start by saying
this:  I must admit, I actually don’t
want it to turn out that Stiles is Red John.

Ever since the show started I have envisioned in my mind Red
John as being middle aged in his 40’s, with a younger looking face – deceptive given
his true demeanor… Quirky personality somewhat similar to Patrick’s in the
sense that he finds pleasure and amusement in everything he does – the difference
with Red John being his pleasure comes from murdering others… Almost light in a
sense, like Patrick a joker, but with the ability to turn into a monster.  Physically not imposing, sly, clever, and
quick as fox to get himself in and out of anywhere as quickly and silently as possible…


 



Which is why Stiles to me would actually come as a
disappointment.  I personally find him too
old to be Red John.  He’s too stern.  Too haughty. 
He doesn’t “blend” as well as I envisioned Red John doing.  He’s almost too obvious.  However, this is a completely subjective opinion,
and I am sure many people would love to see the cult leader be revealed as Red
Jon, and I must admit everything is pointing to good ol’ Bret.

 



For starters, his personality fits what Red John’s has developed
into over the show almost perfectly. 
Both Red John and Stiles are charismatic, deceptive, master
manipulators, and cruelly smart.  In
fact, Stiles is about the only one who is able to use his own intelligence,
manipulations, and charisma to give Patrick a run for his money.

 



As we have seen, Red John is able to coerce almost anybody into
doing his dirty work.  Even… brainwash
them, perhaps?  This is right up Stiles’
alley with him at the Helm of his creepy Visualize cult that does pretty much
exactly that – brainwash its followers. 
He has the power, money, and skill to gather such a huge collection of ‘disciples’
with an equally powerful, wealthy, and manipulative organization behind him to
back him up.  It would be easy to see how
someone of Stiles’ magnitude could operate such an organization that Red John
does with such dedicated followers.

 



Recall back to the pivotal episode where Ms. Martins let the
cat out of the proverbial bag by inadvertently telling Patrick something along
the lines of “You’re just like him.” And “I’m amazed the two of you didn’t
become best friends.”.  Well, call me
crazy, but Stiles is the only person on Patrick’s suspect list that is anywhere
close to Patrick’s own personality.  And given
the fact that they are so similar, I am surprised as well that the two aren’t
best buds.  Now, is it possible that Red
John is someone completely different who is just able to change his personality
into something different when interacting with Patrick?  Absolutely. 
And given the twists and turns of the show, and also the cleverness of
Red John, this isn’t an unlikely possibility. 
However, Stiles certainly fits what Lorelei had to say about the two of
them.

 



Continuing on, let’s take a look at a statement from one of
the show’s former writers, Ashley Gable. 
She stated that we have to look at Red John as a “where’s Waldo” figure;
someone who is in the background.  Well,
a quick hop onto The Mentalist Wiki brought me to this page: (http://thementalist.wikia.com/wiki/Where's_Waldo)
where this Waldo theory is expanded a little further.  The main thing I want to point out here is
the presence of a Waldo like individual in the season three finale –
Strawberries and Cream part two.  Take a
look at this video clip (the final sequence where Patrick shoots Timothy
Carter) : (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiWoXZn-gH8)
and pay particular attention to a man in a red top with black pants and a dark
ball cap chatting to one of the employees at the café in the mall.  Perhaps it’s just me, but I believe this man
looks like Sties.  I can see short white
hair from the back of the ball cap, which is the exact hairstyle Stiles has,
and this person certainly fulfills the “where’s Waldo” thing.  He also appears to be a bit older, fitting
Stiles again.  Now continue watching to
the very end, and you will see this same man running at the end after Patrick
has shot Carter.  He appears when the two
security guards are approaching Patrick, and the man can be seen running in a
slightly crouched position behind Patrick by the escalators.  Again, to me, this looks like Stiles.  Particularly the way he is running – I would
not expect an older gentleman like Stiles to be doing a full sprint – more of a
run like what we see the mystery man doing.





As I have previously stated, I do not really want to see
Stiles revealed as Red John, however there is certainly some good evidence
pointing towards him.  As another note,
what an irony it would be if Stiles was revealed to be Red John, as if I recall
correctly, in a very early episode Patrick actually said about Stiles that he “would
never hurt a fly.”

 

As one final thing I noticed, we also have to remember that
The Mentalist is and always has been a TV show.  The producers of the show had no idea how long
it would last – maybe ten seasons, maybe two seasons – and therefore they
probably had to pick somebody to be Red John during those first couple seasons to
cover their backsides in case the program went south and they had to wrap it up
sooner than expected.  Many of the
suspects on Patrick’s list were introduced in later seasons.  Stiles was introduced in Season Two.  Pretty early on.  Just yet another observation. 

The one thing that doesn’t work with Stiles
is the voice that we have heard Red John talking in.  I myself would not like to brag, but I am
pretty good with putting on accents and changing my voice (I do so frequently
in theatre and film productions).  I find
it hard to believe how we go from Stile’s rough and gruff slightly
British-accented voice to Red John’s high-pitched, smooth falsetto.  Now, perhaps Red John uses some sort of voice
changing software.  After all, we have
only heard him on the phone and under a mask where he could have hidden a voice
changer device.  Well, not quite.  Recall back to the episode where Red John
sends the little girl to Patrick in the cemetery.  When Patrick reveals what the girl said about
Red John, he says that she told him the man had an “odd voice”.  This would certainly describe the creepy high
pitched Red John voice, but this would mean no voice changing devices could
have been used as he talked face to face with the girl.  However, the girl could be saying that Stiles’
gruff sounding voice was odd as well, debunking this idea.

 



I realise that was a lot, but I think there are some things there that definitely point towards Stiles.  Regardless, it will be exciting to see what the 'big reveal' will bring, and this has been a great season so far.

I think Bret is Red John. He has his official followers in Visualize, people can be really devoted to him. We know that in Visualize he helped some addicts, he showed them how to fight their weeknesses...just like Red John helped Michael Kirkland. Maybe Bret lets his most devoted followers to know also his "dark side", help him with the murdering, cover up if needed. I think Ray Haffner is one of those followers.
We know that Red John has been to jail - I don't think an ex convict can later become the chief of CBI or the Police. That's why I exclude Bertram and McAllister.

To everyone who discounts the old, hairless, fat folk:

Q: Who knows the most about possible RJ suspects?
Q: Who spent years developing his list of suspects, gathering evidence etc?
Q: Who is incredibly intelligent and a genius at seeing evidence, clues, reading people, deducing suspects?

Obviously i talk of Patrick.

Now, i know he doesnt know everything (such as Ray's whistling), but he knows all the evidence from Harker and Miller.

IF SOMEBODY MADE IT TO PJ'S FINAL LIST OF 7 THEN JANE THINKS THIS PERSON QUALIFIES, TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE PHYSICAL DESCRIPTIONS.

Who are we to say Stiles is too old if Patrick doesnt think so.
Who are we to say Bertrum cant be Roy Tagliaferro, if jane thinks he could be.
Who are we to say Smith is too fat if Jane doesnt think so.

I know that the descriptions say short hair, just under 6 feet, in good shape, middle age ... and I realize this seems to us to eliminate some of the 7, but if Jane has whittled down a list of 1000s to only 7, if jane has been so judicious to exclude guys like Mashburn, then clearly jane has some plausible reason for these people to be the guys harker and miller were describing. I cant think of good ways to explain the physical differences, but i (nor any of us) need to turn our minds to this at all --- BECAUSE JANE IS CONVINCED THEY COULD BE RJ IN SPITE OF THE PHYSICAL AND AGE DESCRIPTIONS. If he isnt ruling them out, then we should not.

What if Haffner is Kirklands Twin?! Could be " two- eggs" twins.
Was there ever a Scene where both of them met?

i don't know if anyone who appeared in the show is capable of being RJ...

no character is shown that possess PJ intelligence....

generally looking on all concepts only Bret is shown in that aspect but not enought to know that hi is RJ...

anyway, whatever happens in the end i think that it won't be that simple ... it won't be "RJ is that person" ... it will be something mixed up and complex ...

Probably you think haffner is RJ But we know Haffner could be only the conection of Bret to the CBI, FBI and inclusive to Sophie Miller, so they are working together and Haffner its just a RJ assistant, Bret could persuade Haffner to do dirty work, that way Bret saves himself for every charge he could involved, because his followers do everything. So i just say RJ it's not one only person: "The worker" (Haffner, Thimothy Carter, etc) "The mind" is bret and "The cover" all The tiger tiger Org. (Reed, Bertram, etc)
Or,  just only RJ is playing with the "tiger tiger" thing, and he wants to involve the "secret org" of the FBI for a patrick headache


If you remember, bertram says a piece of the William Blake poem...


Just my opinion i don't remember well all the tv show, if i'm wrong, let me know, sorry for my bad english, i'm from mexico, Saludos!