Cleveland kidnapping victim thanks police for help
By Associated Press
Aug 1, 2013 6:31 AM CDT
FILE - File images from the video provided by Hennes Paynter Communications shows from left: Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight. The three women held captive in a Cleveland home for a decade broke their public silence in a 3-minute, 30-second video posted on YouTube at midnight Monday July...   (Associated Press)

One of the victims of convicted Cleveland kidnapper and rapist Ariel Castro has written police a letter thanking them for their help collecting cards and gifts.

The handwritten note by Michelle Knight thanks members of the Cleveland Police Department's Second District for collecting gifts people have given Knight and the two other women imprisoned by Castro for a decade.

In the note, Knight tells Second District Cmdr. Keith Sulzer that, to quote the note, "Life is tough, but I'm tougher!"

Castro is scheduled to appear Thursday in a Cuyahoga (ky-uh-HOH'-guh) County courtroom where a judge will sentence him to life in prison plus 1,000 years.

That's the punishment worked out as part of a plea deal Castro reached last week.