A Twin Cities motorist killed in a collision over the weekend with a semitrailer truck in southern Dakota County was heading to work at a Star Tribune distribution center.

Adam M. Blesener, 32, of Inver Grove Heights, died shortly after the collision about 3:15 a.m. Saturday on County Road 47 north of County Road 88 in Sciota Township, according to the Hennepin County medical examiner's office.

"Adam ran a Star Tribune distribution center [as a contracted agent] and was on his way to run a paper route" at the time of the wreck, read a GoFundMe fundraising page started on behalf of Blesener's wife and four children.

Blesener owned ACB News LLC out of the Northfield depot, said Star Tribune home deliver manager Derek Lenz in an e-mail sent to the newspaper's circulation group.

Brother-in-law Adam Helmberger said in a Facebook posting that "Adam was a funny guy who loved life and dreamed big. ... Nobody ever expects things like this to happen. It all feels like a terrible nightmare."

Blesener was driving his SUV south when it collided with the northbound semi on the big rig's side of the road, the Sheriff's Office said.

The impact threw Blesener from his vehicle, the Sheriff's Office added.

With results of a State Patrol investigation pending, "specific causation factors are not known at this time," Sheriff's Capt. Patrick Enderlein said Monday.