Police found the woman dead in her car outside a 7-Eleven convenience store with four gunshot wounds to her chest, said David Gandal, Rachael's father.
A Las Vegas police commander said no details were available Sunday night on the case.
Gandal and her daughter, Aubrianna, moved from Syracuse to Las Vegas about four years ago, said David Gandal.
She worked in Las Vegas as a bartender and as a model, he said.
Gandal was planning to visit friends in Syracuse for Christmas and was considering moving back to the city, her father said.
"She thought maybe Vegas wasn't a safe enough place for her," David Gandal said.
On her MySpace.com Web page, Gandal wrote, "Gotta represent Syracuse for life, where my home and true friends lye. . .Alwayz and forever."
Gandal still owned property in Syracuse, on Wadsworth Avenue and Elliott Street. She sold several other Syracuse properties before moving west.
"I don't know anybody that didn't love Rachael," her father said. "She was a firecracker. She had an unbelievable head for business and put it to work. She learned how to handle properties and rentals. She was very much a self-made girl."
Her father said Rachael had matured into a dedicated mother.
Gandal's parents both live in Colorado, and her step-mother is in Ohio. She has no relatives in the Syracuse area.
On a Web site to promote her modeling career, Gandal wrote that she attended Onondaga Community College after high school.
"Most of all I want to have my own reality TV show called 'Dreams Do Come True' and help people in need," Gandal wrote on the site.