<Tr> <Th> Occupation </Th> <Td> Sheriff of Napa County, California </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Nationality </Th> <Td> American </Td> </Tr> <P> Red John is a fictional character and the primary antagonist of the CBS crime drama The Mentalist for the first five seasons and half of the sixth . As a serial killer, he is believed to have begun his killing spree in 1988, and has, with his operatives and acolytes, killed more than 70 people in California, Nevada, and Mexico, throughout his murder spree . Five years prior to the action of the first episode, he murdered the wife and the daughter of Patrick Jane (Simon Baker), making Jane his dedicated nemesis . </P> <P> In the season 3 finale, "Strawberries and Cream (Part 2)", Jane encounters a man (played by Bradley Whitford) in a shopping mall who convinces him he is Red John and whom he subsequently kills . However, after this "cliffhanger" episode, over the course of the first several episodes of season 4, Jane determines that the man he killed, Timothy Carter, although a psychopathic killer himself, was not Red John but one of the killer's many operatives . </P>

When is red john caught in the mentalist