(CNN) -- The evolution of Tamerlan Tsarnaev from aspiring Olympic boxer to apparent radical jihadist may have been influenced by a friend in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "This person just took his brain. He just brainwashed him completely," Tsarnaev's uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, told CNN from his home in Maryland, describing the friend as an Armenian convert to Islam. While Tsarni did not give the friend's name, The Associated Press reported that other members of Tsarnaev's family said the friend goes by the name "Misha." Asked about those reports, Elmirza Khozhgov, a former brother-in-law of Tsarnaev, told CNN Tsarnaev once introduced him to someone by that name who was an Armenian convert. He said he was not told Misha's full name.
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NEW: Islamic Society of Boston has not found a "Misha" by that description so far
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The suspects' former brother-in-law tells CNN he met "Misha."
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The suspects' uncle did not name the friend, but said he began influencing Tamerlan in 2009
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Source: Interviews with Dzhokhar suggest the brothers are self-radicalized jihadists
Misha
Misha
Misha
Misha
"Tamerlan told me that he quit boxing and music because @placeholder was teaching that it's not good in Islam to do those things."
Islam
"Tamerlan told me that he quit boxing and music because Misha was teaching that it's not good in @placeholder to do those things."
Tamerlan Tsarnaev
Tsarnaev
Tsarnaev
Tsarnaev
"Misha" taught @placeholder "things that would make Tamerlan go away from the people and go more into the religion," Khozhgov said, but "I didn't witness him making him radical."
Dzhokhar
His brother, @placeholder, remains hospitalized with an array of gunshot wounds.
Dzhokhar
Friends say @placeholder followed his big brother around like a puppy.