Lindomar Batistathe “king of the bolero”, he is dead this Saturday 20, at 85 years old. As well as being one of the most popular brega singers of the 1970s, with hits such as You are too crazyalso committed a crime with considerable repercussions at the time: the murder of his wifethe singer Éliane de Grammonton March 30, 1981.
Lindomar Castilho and Éliane de Grammont
According to Lindomar, the couple met at the RCA label a little more than two years before the crime. They reportedly fell in love and moved in together when Lindomar discovered she was pregnant. They later married. The singer claimed to have had an extramarital affair with Carlos Roberto da Silva, Lindomar’s cousin and also a doctor, who has not been identified. The separation came after about a year of marriage and the singer claimed to have paid pension worth Cr$20,000.
Éliane’s family, for their part, had a different vision of history. Helena, his sister, described her brother-in-law as a “violent, rude and ill-mannered man”. She said that Castilho forced Eliane to interrupt her singing career and that, given the separation, she was attacked by her ex-husband, who then filed a criminal complaint at the police station.
After her marriage ended, Eliane Grammont was trying to reestablish her career and maintain relationships with other people, something the family claimed the singer did not accept, even after the breakup.
What is the crime in which Lindomar Castilho killed his wife?
In the early hours of Sunday to Monday March 30, 1981, Eliane Aparecida Grammont, then aged 25, sang the song Hansel and Gretelby Chico Buarque, at the Belle Époque nightclub, in São Paulo. Carlos Roberto da Silva played guitar alongside him. Lindomar Castilho entered the scene and fired several times in his direction.
Before being convicted of the crime, the singer made a statement that did not match that of other witnesses or his previous actions. According to Lindomar, the crime was not premeditated. “I went to talk to the guy to offer to keep the apartment and let me raise my little girl. He rushed towards me and attacked me. Then, because he took out a gun or something else that I couldn’t see clearly, I also took out mine and fired. From then on, I didn’t see anything else. I only learned of Eliane’s death here at the police station,” he said in his statement, according to the newspaper. The Globe.
As for the fact that he was armed, he explained: “I work at night and I travel a lot. So I had a weapon to defend myself personally, with legal registration. In addition, I was threatened by Carlos Roberto, who followed me several times in a blue Volkswagen.” This version did not convince the investigators: although he claimed to have used it during his travels, the singer had bought his weapon on Tuesday of the same week, six days before the crime. In addition to the 38 caliber Taurus, he also purchased a box of 50 bullets on the same day. Nine of them were in her bag and 16 more were found in a drawer in her apartment.
“A man who recently bought a gun and entered the club as he did does not seem to have good intentions,” police chief Geraldo Branco de Camargo, of São Paulo’s 4th DP, told reporters. William Schmidt, owner of the Belle Époque nightclub, reported in a statement that Lindomar Castilho “entered with a gun in his hand, firing several shots” toward the stage. Carlos Roberto then allegedly launched towards him, starting a fight. Carlos and William managed to immobilize Castilho, tying his hands and feet with nylon ropes.
João Miguel Marques de Medeiros, a singer who had performed shortly before, was also a witness. He was at the door of the square when he saw Lindomar arrive and then several gunshots. It was João Miguel who helped Eliane Grammont and Carlos Roberto in the hospital emergency room.
Another weapon, a .32 caliber Rossi revolver, was allegedly found by police on the floor of the nightclub. According to the police chief, it did not belong to either Carlos Roberto or Lindomar Castilho: “Someone who was at the club may have taken advantage of the confusion to get rid of it.”
The body of Eliane Grammont was buried this Monday, March 30, 1981 around 1 p.m. in her family’s grave, in the Araçá cemetery. At the funeral, a message written by feminist organizations regarding his assassination was read. At the time, there was no qualification for “feminicide”, which would probably be used by current legislation.
Today, the President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), was present at the ceremony to offer his condolences to the family. Eliane had 11 brothers and sisters. One of them, the journalist Júlio de Grammont, was press advisor to the ABC metalworkers’ union and, years later, he would be press advisor to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) during the 1998 presidential campaign.
Lindomar Castilho claimed “legitimate defense of honor”, was tried and found guilty of the crime of killing his wife
Throughout his defense, Lindomar Castilho used the thesis of “legitimate defense of honor”. Castilho’s lawyer at the time, Luís Paulo de Campos Souza, wanted the singer released to appeal for freedom within a maximum of 10 days, which did not materialize. Lindomar went to the São Paulo detention center, Carandiru, where he stayed in cell 4367-E, in Pavilion 4, “intended for occasional criminals.” According to the Stadium At the time, the musician had even been attacked by colleagues: “Lindomar, who is in the detention room, was searched for yesterday by the detainees, who were finally informed via loudspeakers.”
He was released after 27 days of detention, on April 28, thanks to a release authorization based on the Fleury law, which allowed defendants to await their trial in complete freedom. At a press conference, Lindomar Castilho appeared shaky and avoided answering most questions. Twice he was taken out of the room by his brother, Omar Cabral, and then returned.
One of the main questions referred to a rumor that had emerged at the time: according to which Lindomar Castilho had composed a song to talk about the murder of Eliane de Grammont. The name would be I killed for loveOr Why did I kill – varied depending on the version. He denied: “I am not in a position to compose. Forgive me, I am not in good health. I am not in a position to speak in this situation. Let some time pass and I will look for you (journalists) myself.”
Three years later, in August 1984, Castilho was tried and sentenced to 12 years and two months in prison. “Honestly, I didn’t expect such a harsh sentence. I was hoping it would be minimal. But my lawyer will appeal. And I will be tried again in another situation. Hope is the last thing that dies, right?” he said.
The singer served about seven years in a closed regime and the rest of his sentence in a semi-open regime. In the 1990s, he served his entire sentence in court and was released.
On the occasion of his death, on December 20, 2025, his daughter, Lili Grammont, declared: “By taking the life of my mother, he also died in life. The man who kills also dies. The father dies and a murderer is born, an entire family dies. Have I forgiven? This answer is not as simple as a “yes” or “no”. I wish that his soul would be healed, that his toxic substance for masculinity would be transformed.”
View this post on Instagram
About The Author
