An Aquinnah woman who police say left home during a snowstorm Saturday night to check on a nearby property she caretakes, died of exposure to the cold on her return home.

Amanda Hutchinson was administrative assistant to the Aquinnah planning board and board of health, and also served as the town’s health agent. She was 50 years old.

Friends and coworkers expressed shock and despair at her death. “Amanda was the kindest and gentlest soul,” Aquinnah town administrator Adam Wilson said in a phone conversation. “She was a wonderful person to have around and tried her damnedest to do her job. She was dedicated. Her loss is big for the town.”

According to the Aquinnah police report, Sgt. Paul Manning responded to a call from Mrs. Hutchinson’s husband, Stephen Hutchinson, just before 8:30 a.m. Sunday to report he had found his wife in the snow, unconscious. Mr. Hutchinson said he woke up to find his wife was not home and followed her tracks on a path that connects Old Lantern Way, which is off Old South Road, to Evergreen Way, where the couple lived together.

Mrs. Hutchinson was found face up in the snow about six feet into the woods on Old Lantern Way, the report says. Sgt. Manning said that when he arrived at the scene, he found Mr. Hutchinson lying in the snow, holding his wife. Mr. Manning also wrote he was unable to detect signs of breathing or a pulse in Mrs. Hutchinson.

Sgt. Manning and an EMT administered CPR before Mrs. Hutchinson was transported to Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, the report says. There, she was pronounced dead at 10:12 a.m.

The 18-hour snowstorm on Saturday brought eight inches of powder to the Island, heavy and blustery at times, beginning around 2 a.m. Saturday morning and lasting well into the night. Any evidence of the snow was all but gone two days later.

Authorities believe Mrs. Hutchinson was sewing in a detached garage apartment — as she was known to do — before she left her home on Evergreen Way to check on a house on Old South Road. Her husband believed she stayed the night in the garage apartment until he discovered she was missing the next morning, state police Sgt. Thomas Medeiros said this week.

At some point in the night Mrs. Hutchinson walked nearly a mile from her home to Old South Road. Footprints matching Mrs. Hutchinson’s were found at the house on Old South Road. Sgt. Medeiros said she likely “succumbed to the elements” on her way back. The keys to the house were found in her pocket, he said.

Mrs. Hutchinson couldn’t drive to Old South Road house because of the snow, Sgt. Medeiros said. He also said the heavily wooded area was a common walking route for her to take.

There were no signs of trauma, he said.

“Right now [the cause of death] appears to be exposure to cold,” Sgt. Medeiros said. “We’re not drawing any conclusions until we get the autopsy results.”

The autopsy is being conducted by the Cape and Islands Crime Prevention and Control unit under the district attorney’s office. Sgt. Medeiros said he did not know when the results would be available.

The death is under investigation by the state police, but it appears no foul play was involved, Mr. Medeiros said.

Members of the Aquinnah community were stunned to hear of Mrs. Hutchinson’s death and expressed their sadness this week.

“She will be missed,” Mr. Wilson said. “She was an integral part of our organization up here.”

Planning board chairman Peter Temple said she was an important part of the team.

“This is a small community and Amanda worked all over town so everyone knew her and would have a nice chat when they bumped into her,” he said in an e-mail to the Gazette. “It’s such a shock losing a friend unexpectedly.”