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Timothy Carter a.k.a Fake Red John is one of the minor antagonists of The Mentalist TV Show. He is believed to be Red John, but is revealed not to be a one. He was played by Bradley Whitford.
Biography[]
Little is known about Timothy Carter's past, as he seemingly appeared out of nowhere five years before we first saw him on screen. He and his wife seemed like ordinary people to the world. One day, a teenage girl named Debbie Lupin went missing in the neighborhood where Timothy and his wife lived. One day, Patrick Jane, while investigating the murder of Todd Johnson, a serial cop killer who was burned in his cell, learned that there was a mole for Red John in the CBI. With the help of his friends, he found out that this mole was Craig O'Laughlin, Grace Van Pelt's new boyfriend. Craig, realizing that he had been exposed, tried to kill Teresa Lisbon, but was killed by Grace Van Pelt. Lisbon, despite being wounded, called Patrick and reported what had happened. Patrick, realizing that it was Red John who had given Craig the task of killing Madeline Hightower (Patrick's new boss and his friends on the police force), asked Lisbon to pick up O'Laughlin's phone and call the last number he had been called from (which she did). At that moment, Timothy Carter, who was sitting next to Patrick, received a phone call and answered, "Here you go, there you go." When Lisbon called Patrick and said that she had been told, "Here you go, there you go," Patrick approached Timothy and started a conversation. Timothy tried to deny it, but when Patrick pressed him, he began to hint that he was Red John. Patrick believed him, but not right away. Timothy tried to leave and convince Patrick not to go after him, but Patrick killed him (thinking that he was killing Red John). Then the police arrived. Patrick was arrested. He was ready to be punished for what he had done. But there were complications. One of the guards replaced Timothy's phone (with one that was not called from O'Laughlin's phone) and took Timothy's gun (so that the murder would not look like self-defense). Debbie Lupin was found at Timothy's home (which proved that he had criminal inclinations). Timothy's wife stubbornly remained silent, and then committed suicide. Later, the guard who stole Timothy's phone and gun also died. Moreover, he died under strange circumstances (supposedly from an accident with a hair dryer, although he was bald). Patrick managed to convince the jury that he killed his family's killer and was released. However, he began to suspect that he had lied and that although Timothy Carter was a bad man, he was not Red John. This soon began to be confirmed. At first, Red John's ex-girlfriend did not identify Timothy Carter as the man she had been dating. Patrick then began investigating the murders of another serial killer, the San Joaquin Killer. Unable to prove his guilt, he provoked him into insulting Red John on TV. Soon, Red John killed the San Joaquin Killer (proving that he was very much alive and that Timothy Carter was an outsider).
Personality[]
While Timothy isn't Red John, he's certainly no hero. He kept a teenage girl in his home (why exactly he wanted her is unknown, but he certainly didn't do anything nice to her). Red John, having learned what a bad person he was, sent him to meet Patrick, assuming O'Laughlin couldn't handle killing Madeline.