An E! News investigation has uncovered new details about the 19-year-old Tennessee hacker accused of targeting Miley Cyrus and a handful of other celebrities last year, including Chris Brown, Rihanna and Pete Wentz.
In October, the FBI raided Josh Holly's Nashville-area apartment after he apparently broke into Cyrus' account, found photos of the tween queen in her underwear and then published them online. A man identifying himself as the 19-year-old computer savant took credit for the hacking online and in a call to an Arizona radio station.
E! News traveled to Holly's hometown of Murfreesboro, Tenn., a short drive from Cyrus' native Franklin (the setting for the Hannah Montana movie). Holly had been living there with his older sister at the time of the FBI visit that seemed to put a stop to his Hollywood hacking.
"He's very stressed," former roommate Ashley Saltiel tells E! News, adding that Holly fled the state after the raid. "He's moved to Arizona...just to keep out of the limelight."
Holly, a 19-year-old high school dropout described by one friend as "a mad genius," also managed to get Cyrus' cell phone number, according to Saltiel. She recalls that one night during a party, he called Cyrus on speaker phone from his cell.
"Apparently, he had called before because all she said was, 'I don't want to talk to you, leave me alone,' and she hung up," says Saltiel.
A spokesman for the FBI's Nashville field office says the investigation into Holly is ongoing but would not confirm his current whereabouts.
—Reporting by Whitney English