Family members of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev say he had fallen under the influence of a Muslim convert, steering him toward a strict strain of Islam.
His family says that, under the tutelage of a friend known to the Tsarnaev family only as Misha, Tamerlan gave up boxing and stopped studying music. He began opposing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and turned to websites and literature claiming that the CIA was behind the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and that Jews controlled the world.
Tamerlan's uncle tells The Associated Press that the mysterious friend, quote, "just took his brain."
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