Wael Ali greets friends and family members outside Howard County Detention Center. Earlier on Monday charges against Ali for the murder of his identical twin brother, Wasel, were dropped by prosecutors from the Maryland State's Attorney's office.

Ali was arrested in Cobb County, GA, in September of 2011 after a cold case investigation led authorities to investigate him as the killer of his twin brother, who was found dead on a Columbia pathway in August of 2007. But on March 29, his trial in Howard County, MD, Circuit Court ended in a mistrial. 

In 2007, the twins lived on the East side of Columbia with their parents. The twins were born in Sudan, but moved to the United States with their family in 1994. Throughout the trial, Ali's father and mother were present in the courtroom along with multiple members of his immediate and extended family as well as some of Ali's friends.

Ali was living in Georgia before his arrest, running a restaurant with his mother and attending college.