Well ... it really was the sheriff ... But... Am i the only one who thinks that it doesn't make any sense?
I continued to watch the show until it's end but i honestly think everyone in this ("who is red john?") comunity put more thought into the whole red john thing than the writers of Mentalist.

There were too many things left to explain, too many things didn't make any sense and... lets be honest... There were several candidates more probable than the sheriff ... Stiles, Kirkland, Partridge, Bertram, Brenda, Royston Daniels, Mashburn, Rosalind, Van Pelt, Lisbon, Volker,  Minelli...
All of these had reasons to be suspects and, at least, half of them were better candidates than the sheriff...

Do you agree? what are the things you think were left to explain? What was the better candidate?
Any theories that make more sense than this "sheriff" conclusion?