This isn't a theory! I
just wanted to point out some serious timeline issues:

Timeline wise the earliest
episode is S05E05 Red Dawn. 




As far as i know it isn't
possible to put an exact date on those events. The only reference in
that respect is the portrait of Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor. He
was Governor from Nov 2003 until January 2011.

So if the picture as a
time reference can be trusted the episode must lie within that time frame. It is also said time lie about 1 year after the Jane
murders. So the time frame there is 2002-2010.

By the end of
that episode Jane has gotten the Job of consultant. Also Steve
Hannigan gets transferred and Grace is thrown into the mix as a
replacement.

Assuming there is no in between replacement we know
nothing about she must have gotten the job shortly after that
episode. The time in between can't be more than a few months.




In S01E01 Rigsby
actually wears the same leather Jacket as in Red Dawn, but got arid
of the Goatee.

On the second case of the double murder, Jane meets
Van Pelt for the first time. As he hasn't met her on the first murder
two weeks earlier in LA so she could have joined in the meantime. In
any case we are most likely only moths in from Jane joing the CBI.




Jane did join the CBI
about one year after the murder of his family therefore we must be at
about 1,5-2 years after the murder.

Now there is the first flashback
to Jane doing a psychic reading in the TV Show.




The caption tells us this
happened 5 years ago.
Therefore it must be 3 years prior to the
murders. The second flashback continues in the same TV show with Jane talking
about Red John. His voice keeps on talking while the camera cuts away to a BMV
driving in the moonlight. Then there is another cut to Janes house where
he walks up the stairs and discovers the note and the red smiley.

Now
if this is in fact the scene where he finds his wife and child this
cut must be a jump of about 3 years a head.