Red John

Red John is a fictional serial killer on the TV show The Mentalist, who is believed to have begun killing in 1998, and has, with his operatives and acolytes, killed more than 30 people in California, Nevada, and Mexico, so far. Five years prior to the action of the first episode, he murdered the wife and the daughter of the protagonist Patrick Jane (Simon Baker), making Jane his dedicated nemesis.

In the season 3 finale, "Strawberries and Cream (Part 2)", Jane encounters a man in a shopping mall who convinces him he is Red John and whom he subsequently kills. The man was portrayed by Bradley Whitford. However, after this "cliffhanger" episode, it was determined by Jane throughout early season 4, that the man he killed, Timothy Carter, although a psychopathic killer himself, was not Red John, but one of Red John's many operatives.

Finding and killing Red John is Patrick Jane's top priority. In the episode "Red Sails in the Sunset", Lorelei Martins, a Red John operative, who goes astray after Jane convinces her that Red John murdered her sister, Miranda, accidentally reveals to Jane that he has already met Red John and shaken his hand. Jane compiled a list of men whose hands he has shaken and eventually narrows the list to 7 names. Lorelei, however, is captured by Red John, whom she refused to name to Jane, breaking a promise she had made, and reads a pre-mortem message from Red John threatening to go back to killing "a lot" until Jane captures Red John or vice versa. In Lorelei's message from Red John, she names the seven men Jane had narrowed down his list to include, indicating that somehow Red John has gotten inside Jane's mind, although Red John doesn't deny being one of the seven men.

TV Guide included Red John in its 2013 list of "The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time".