Annie Ming Littleton is a Chinese refugee married to U.S. ambassador John Littleton, with whom she lives under protected status with her daughter Susan and her son Stephen. Annie evaded China to escape the dictatorship after the Tiananmen massacres, which she witnessed firsthand. She worked in curating regarding studies and materials of Chinese history and artifacts, realizing artifacts she came across were being illegally brokered by Stuart Gaston.
Gaston's business partner, escapee Pang Ghiangji, surveyed Annie and found out what she knew. What she knew from Pang is he was the commanding general at the massacre nicknamed "Screaming Butcher", and when she saw him at a Chinatown market, she shouted after him and demanded someone stop him before he ran off. When she went back to her kids, an unseen shooter gunned her down in front of all present witnesses, including her children. She died almost instantly from two shots to her back.
John was devastated and told detectives about Pang. That information and revelation of Gaston's artifact trafficking led to both men's arrests, with Pang being extradited for war crimes. It was revealed Annie's killer was contracted by one of Gaston's customers, who wanted an artifact Gaston and Pang were bickering over that would've revealed Pang's identity to Annie. Desperate to get her hands on the artifact as a passionate collector, she hired her personal servant to assassinate Annie before he fled the country so Annie would never reveal the truth. (CI: "Chinoiserie")