Kathryn A. (Cassie) Roessel, whose tireless and enthusiastic representation of Martha's Vineyard on the Steamship Authority board of governors made her one of the best-known residents of the Island, was found dead outside her Vineyard Haven home last Saturday morning. She was 51.

State police detectives attached to the Cape and Islands district attorney's office are investigating Ms. Roessel's death, as they would any unattended death. Tisbury police chief Theodore Saulnier said Tuesday there were no obvious marks of injury on the body.

A 21-year-old New Hampshire woman remained in a Boston hospital with life-threatening injuries yesterday following a two-car crash on Barnes Road that marred Fourth of July festivities on the Vineyard Wednesday afternoon.

The crash left five people injured, three of them seriously, state police said.

The three people were later flown by medical helicopter to Boston hospitals, including Heather LaFlamme, 21, of Berlin, N.H., who was reported in critical condition at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston Thursday afternoon.