A 71-year-old woman found dead in her small mountain community in the Sierra Nevada was the victim of California’s first-ever known fatal black bear attack, wildlife officials said this week.

When Patrice Miller was found dead in Downieville in November, the Sierra County Sheriff’s Office said it believed a bear went into the woman’s home after she died. But an autopsy recently confirmed the bear killed her, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said.

“This incident is the…