Red John's victims have been mostly female, with some exceptions, such as Jared Renfrew (Todd Stashwick) in the season 1 episode "Red John's Friends", a man Jane helped to be released from prison on the condition he would give Jane information on the whereabouts of Red John. Fearing Red John, the man escaped Jane's custody before giving any relevant information. Later that day, the man contacted Jane to explain that he would be of no further assistance, although this doesn't save Renfrew's life. Jane used background noises from the conversation as a starting point to find this man, but Red John got to him first, killing both Renfrew and the prostitute Renfrew had been with. In the season 2 episode "His Red Right Hand", it is revealed another man was killed when he interrupted his wife's murder at the hand of Red John. Jane believes this occurred early in Red John's career and that Red John made a "mistake" due to his inexperience. Jane believes Red John removed the body from the crime scene (something he had otherwise not done) to bury the mistake. In the season 2 finale "Red Sky in the Morning", Red John and Jane meet when Red John rescues Jane from kidnappers; however Red John wears a mask that obscures his face. Red John also kills the two kidnappers, one of whom was male, but leaves alive a boy who the kidnappers blackmailed into looking like a criminal. In the season 4 episode "Blinking Red Light", Red John kills James Panzer, a blogger and serial killer known as the San Joaquin Killer, after Panzer has been goaded by Jane into insulting Red John on television. Jane did this because he could think of no other way to protect society from Panzer.
Sally Face Episode 5 – PLAZA
The character of Red John himself remained largely unseen from the beginning. His face was confined in the shadows when he escaped from the abandoned house in the first-season finale. He may have appeared as a slim, dark-haired California Highway Patrol motorcycle officer (blue turtleneck, rather than blue tie) to poison Rebecca using his left hand in "His Red Right Hand"; in the same episode, he is also seen in flashback. In the second-season finale, "Red Sky in the Morning", a man claiming to be Red John appears in the flesh, wearing a black sweatshirt, apron and pants, black rubber gloves, a pair of charcoal boots, and a grotesque rubber mask that covers his face, making him look slightly similar to what many believe the real life serial killer Jack the Ripper donned during his murder hunts. In the episode, Red John saves Jane from two student filmmakers who had copycatted Red John murders.
By the episode "Blinking Red Light", it is now widely believed that Red John is dead, with Jane and Lisbon the only ones aware he is still alive. One of the people believing Red John to be dead is James Panzer, a blogger pretending to devote his life to find a serial killer known as "the San Joaquin Killer" (abbreviated SJK, who has killed at least five young women). In reality, Panzer is the killer. Jane suspects Panzer but initially lacks the proof to expose him. When he and Panzer both appear on Karen Cross's television talk show discussing the SJK case, Jane recognizes Panzer has to be stopped and goads Panzer into comparing Red John unfavorably to SJK. Panzer rises to the bait, making bold statements that the SJK killings were the work of a genius and Red John by comparison is a "common sociopath, lazy, sloppy, delusional" and already forgotten since Jane killed him. Panzer then makes the same mistake made by Jane and Kristina Frye: belittling Red John in a public forum. A couple of hours after the television appearance, Panzer is found murdered, with Red John's smiley face painted in blood on one of the walls near his body. Panzer's murder proves Jane's theory that Red John is still alive. This makes Panzer Red John's ninth male victim.
In the season 4's penultimate episode "Red Rover, Red Rover", Jane receives a message from Red John: an envelope with the words "Happy Anniversary" under the wiper of his car. In the cemetery where Jane's wife and daughter are buried, a little girl named Hailey (Emma Rayne Lyle) approaches him and says, "Hello, Patrick." When Patrick asks how she knows his name, she says, "Your friend told me," and reveals the red smiley-face painted on her hand. She says, "He told me to ask you a question ... 'Do you give up yet?'" Hailey tells Patrick the man is white, was wearing a baseball cap, and had an odd voice. Lisbon says to Patrick that Red John wants to play with his mind. Later in the episode, Patrick burns all the CBI files of Red John, presumably out of despair, and the next morning says, "He's right... it's time to give up ... nothing's working. Nothing. It's just a game, and he keeps winning. The only way for me to stop him is if I stop playing."
In the fifth season episode "The Red Barn", it is hinted that Red John may currently be or was a member of the "Visualize Self-Realization Center" church, a notorious cult with a reputation for brainwashing its members, as two bodies which fit his MO were found on a farm previously controlled by Visualize, complete with his signature smiley face on the outside of the barn where the bodies were found. The murders are revealed to have been committed over two decades ago, when various Visualize members worked on the farm until its eventual shutdown due to a lack of farming expertise, and ten years before Red John was an active serial killer who targeted predominantly women. This implies that Red John used the cult and its techniques to recruit individuals who would make suitable followers (as many of Visualize's members come from broken families and traumatic childhoods, a trait that nearly every single Red John operative also shares), then brainwashes or seduces them to effectively control them. This finally explains how Red John recruited so many followers over the years who worshipped him and who were willing to give their lives for his plans.
After he leaves her office, he comes upon Jane. The two shake hands, and Kirkland tells Jane that he knows him, although Jane didn't know Kirkland. In the next episode, Lorelei Martins tells Jane that he had already met and shaken hands with Red John. In the episodes "Red Sails in the Sunset" and "There Will Be Blood", Kirkland and Homeland Security are shown taking a deep interest in finding Red John's accomplice, Lorelei Martins, when she goes on a killing spree. Neither the CBI nor Homeland Security locate Lorelei before she is found murdered under Red John's trademark smiley face. When Jason Lennon (who admitted to being an accomplice of Red John) awakes from an induced coma, he is interviewed by Kirkland. He tells Kirkland that he remembers who shot him but says he does not recognize Kirkland. Kirkland then kills Lennon with an injection, making it appear Lennon has died of his injuries. Kirkland tells Jane that Lennon "never said a word" before dying. 2ff7e9595c