CHICAGO >> For a man whose fourth wife had just disappeared, Drew Peterson didn’t sound the least bit worried. He seemed almost gleeful, suggesting that she had run off with another man and that all her threats of divorce coincided with her menstrual cycle.

Authorities investigating that disappearance back in 2007 soon started wondering if Peterson might have been involved with the earlier drowning death of his third wife. But that didn’t faze him. He joked about a “Win a Date With Drew” contest and discussed appearing on a reality TV show about a Nevada brothel.

The crass swagger continued even after the former suburban Chicago police officer was arrested in the drowning, which had originally been ruled an accident. Peterson called a radio show — collect, from jail — to joke about a “Win a Conjugal Visit With Drew” game.

Five years after he became an object of national scorn, Peterson is about to go on trial on charges that he murdered Kathleen Savio in 2004. His fourth wife, Stacy, has never been found.

Observers say Peterson may benefit from the three years he’s been behind bars and out of the public eye.

“Nobody’s going to deny that Drew’s relatively goofy behavior rubbed people the wrong way,” said Joel Brodsky, who explained Peterson’s actions as both the byproduct of a sometimes grim job and his way of moving on after his wife left him.

The case, which begins Monday with jury selection, is sure to rekindle memories of the media frenzy that engulfed Peterson before his arrest, when he often joked with an army of news crews camped outside his house and even invited Geraldo Rivera into his kitchen.

Reporters from around the country and maybe from as far away as Japan will descend on a courthouse in Joliet to watch the latest chapter of a story that has already spawned a couple of books and a cable TV movie starring Rob Lowe as Peterson.

Prosecutors expect to tell a relatively simple story: Drew Peterson killed his ex-wife to keep her from making off with much of his money in a contentious divorce. Sometime around Feb. 29, 2004, according to the indictment, Peterson went to Savio’s house and in the bathroom caused her “to inhale fluid,” killing her.

But that simple story is complicated by what happened after Savio’s body was discovered by a friend of Peterson’s. Peterson had called the friend to the house to look for Savio, saying he was worried.